Baudelaire In Braille Part 2: Drawn and Quartered
by Phenobarbital
Summary: "He killed…my…baby…Will…" Alana was practically mumbling now, almost incoherent, rocking and sobbing and shivering. Will swallowed tensely, his vision swimming and fists clenching. God…what was he supposed to do?
1. Let's Hold These Hearts For One Another

Disclaimer: I do not own Hannibal (the movies or the series or the books)

-This is the second (and possibly final) installment of my Baudelaire In Braille series. I may write more, no sure yet.  
-THIS IS MUCH DARKER THAN THE FIRST PART, PLEASE READ ALL THE TAGS ON AO3 FOR REFERENCE  
-If you haven't read the first part, you may not understand what's going on here.  
-Links to images will be available in the AO3 upload.  
-There is a bit more language switching in this part of the series.  
-I hope everyone who reads will enjoy.

* * *

What is annoying in love, is that it is a crime in which one cannot do without an accomplice.

-Charles Baudelaire

* * *

 _Italy, Livorno - Tuesday – 20 Sep 2022 – 4.55 PM_

They were driving on a long straight road that led from the city of Livorno through its countryside, which was more than just open stretches of bland flat land, but rather, beautiful rolling green hills boasting large estate homes every few miles, and everything in between was healthy green forestry, large farms and vineyards as well as distant mountain landscapes.

Will hated it. It kind of reminded him of when he'd been driving in the countryside of Lithuania to where Hannibal's family estate had been. Except out there in Italy, none of the estates looked like imperious castles that housed blood sucking vampires or something else equally deranged and ominous...like a future serial killing cannibal.

He snorted to himself, smiling slightly at the thought, because Hannibal was technically 'Count Lecter' and that was _such_ a vampire name. The noise did not go unheard, even with the lilting classical sounds of _Rachmaninov_ playing from the car's CD player and Hannibal glanced over at him briefly before turning his eyes back to the road,

"Something funny?" he asked just loudly enough to be heard, flexing his long fingers on the steering wheel as he drove them smoothly along the narrow countryside road.

Will was sitting with his head rested on his hand, knuckles against his temple, his hand was curled into a loose fist and his elbow was hitched up on the door's window ledge, his other hand was settled idly on his thigh and he'd been staring out of the car window at the boring scenery. He didn't look over when Hannibal spoke, he just raised an eyebrow,

"I was just thinking about how creepy your estate in Lithuania is." he paused and his smile broadened, "With the mist and the cemetery, the forest and disused fountains with large mossy statues in them…I'll bet you probably had a maze too." Will snorted again and rolled his head against the rest so that he was looking at Hannibal.

Hannibal was dressed in all black, he had on a V-neck cashmere sweater with long sleeves that reached as far down as his knuckles, complimenting the slender lines of his hands and long fingers. He wore it with a formal flat-front pants and leather Chelsea boots and because the interior of the rented Mercedes C Class was black and the weather was heavily overcast and gray outside, his skin looked unusually pale. Will trailed his eyes over Hannibal's sharp side profile and the sleek brush-back style of his hair and watched as the man's lips curved up into a slight smirk,

"Labirintas, in Lithuanian." Hannibal said with a raised eyebrow and glanced at Will again.

"Labir-in-tas." Will repeated, trying to roll the word on his tongue like Hannibal did, and the word _amžinai_ popped into his thoughts, making him grin as he watched Hannibal, "So you did have one, a labirintas…a labyrinth?" he frowned lightly, venturing a guess, because the words sounded close enough to one another.

Hannibal smiled wider now, so Will knew he'd guessed right,

"Yes, we had a labyrinth, but it was part of a series of regularly used gardens…it wasn't anything quite as sinister as old folktales would have people believe." his tone was laced with humor as he slowed down around a curve in the road.

Will raised his eyebrows,

"Still though, you had an _actual_ maze…" he mumbled and then pointed out, "…and in the condition the estate was in when I saw it," Will shook his head, "I doubt it was anything but overgrown and creepy." he looked at the road ahead and his eyes scanned over the extensions of farms and hills they passed.

Hannibal's voice was low and curious when he asked,

"Did you go into the main house?"

Will nearly scoffed at the term 'house' as he looked at Hannibal again,

"You mean the main part of the **mansion**?" he raised an eyebrow at the older man and Hannibal's eyebrows bobbed slightly in acknowledgement of the clear difference, and Will smirked, amused, "No, I didn't. I…" he closed his eyes for a moment and remembered his short time spent in Lithuania, "…I illegally trespassed by scaling the gate, camped in the forest of the grounds below the mansion…and eventually," he opened his eyes again, "I made my way up to the east wing, where I found the entrance to the, uh…oubliette." Will's smirk wavered, "And that was where I had my first encounter with the…lovely," he said the word like a question, "Chiyoh…at the business end of a double barrel shot gun." he finished dully, shifting idly in his seat.

Will kept his eyes on Hannibal, watching the man as he drove, the lilting sounds of piano relaxing him further into the leather seat. Hannibal's hand slid down to the side of the steering wheel as he slowed the car down to an approaching turn and his fingers stretched out to switch the right indicator on as his gaze drifted from the cloudy, gray skies on the horizon back to the road ahead of them. They barely stopped at the crossroad turn before Hannibal rotated the steering wheel right and switched off the indicator again, and only once they were on the new road steadily gaining speed again, did Hannibal speak,  
"You told me once that she pushed you off a train," he glanced at Will with an amused expression, "is the reason for her having done that connected to your mutual dislike for one another?"

Will frowned lightly, and then raised his eyebrows, bringing a hand up to adjust his thin frameless spectacles on his nose before he rubbed his hand over his mouth and off his chin,

"She hasn't already told you this story?" he was surprised by that. During their recovery after Dolarhyde, Hannibal and Chiyoh had spent hours talking to one another when Will had been awake or asleep, pretty much whenever they were alone or he was out of earshot. Although he'd never been intentionally excluded from most of the conversations, he'd simply chosen never to join in. But finding out that she hadn't told Hannibal anything about how she'd come to know Will surprised him.

Hannibal shook his head lightly,

"Not in detail." he brought his other hand up onto the steering wheel, idly flexing his fingers on the leather, "She told me that you went to the estate looking for me and after you set her up to kill her charge, the two of you left Lithuania to find me." he glanced at Will again.

"Together…we left _together_ , at the same time, with the same goal in mind." Will clarified calmly, with only a hint of bitterness in his tone after all the years passed, for having been pushed off a train for very little good reason. Really, everyone Hannibal had known had always been so _excessively violent_ , long before Will had caught up.

"And how did she come to push you, completely unsuspecting, off of the train?" Hannibal sounded equal parts amused and curious.

Will inhaled slowly and worked his jaw for a second, glancing at Hannibal and debating how best to say exactly **how** Chiyoh had caught him off guard. She obviously had elected not to reveal the particulars of their time spent together to Hannibal and now Will wondered if it was a calculated precaution on her part to avoid Hannibal's wrath. Would Hannibal be angry? Chiyoh wasn't _really_ Hannibal's family, and sure he _valued_ her, but Will had often wondered how expendable Hannibal considered her in the end.

And he couldn't say it'd particularly bother him if Hannibal killed Chiyoh…but it might bother Hannibal if he killed Chiyoh. Hannibal may not often indulge in regret, but Chiyoh wasn't just anybody to him, so there was a chance he would regret it. Still, he _couldn't_ lie to Hannibal, so he decided to tell the tale as lightly as possible,

"I'd just woken up in our shared cabin on the train…from a…grim dream, and she wasn't in the cabin." Will began, glancing at Hannibal just when the older man glanced at him,

"Were you anxious, Will?" he asked with a knowing humor in his voice, "Because you'd dreamed she was dead, and that you'd killed her?" he continued to sound amused.

Will inclined his head, glancing from Hannibal to the road and then back,

"It wasn't as vivid as all that, and I wasn't anxious, I simply…didn't trust her out of my sight." which was true, and was the very reason he felt like such a twat for letting her kiss him, "But in my dream I had killed her." and his recent -though rare - dreams of doing so since then were far more pleasing and graphic anyway.

Hannibal gave Will a prompting glance, urging him to go on, and Will scratched idly at his collarbone beneath his ribbed, slate gray, Henley shirt before he continued,

"I went looking for her, and I found her at the back of the train, on the platform." he paused and then shook his head, "We talked for a minute…and one second I was on the train, the next I was on the tracks." he added with affected nonchalance at the end, his nerve being lost at the last second, telling himself it didn't matter **how** he'd been caught off guard.

Why would it matter? That flimsy little kiss…was it because Chiyoh was Hannibal's and Will was Hannibal's?

Will felt a seepage of jealousy into his consciousness as he thought again of how Chiyoh was not related to Hannibal and that they had grown up around one another, spent years in the other's company through adolescence. He found himself unhappily curious then about whether or not Hannibal had ever had a non-platonic experience with Chiyoh.

"Pardon my skepticism, Will, but I find it hard to believe that Chiyoh was able to push you off a train while you had your wits about you. Were you perhaps still half asleep, partially medicated?" Hannibal asked, and he didn't sound mocking, he sounded like he thought it might have been a possibility, and Will could have taken that excuse and ran with it.

But if Hannibal eventually somehow learned what had really happened, Will knew his little omission would not be well received. So with his eyes averted to the windshield, he just said it,

"She kissed me…and then she pushed me."

Ill timed, the music track playing came to an end, leaving the car silent in the wake of that statement. When a few seconds passed, the next track easing into the silence with a string quartet, and Hannibal still hadn't said anything or even moved, Will felt compelled to look at him.

The first thing Will noticed was the stretch of Hannibal's skin over the ridges of his knuckles, he was gripping the steering wheel very tightly, which made the tendons and veins in the backs of hands protrude.

Right, so…Hannibal was pissed.

Looking at his face next, Will saw that his expression was severe, his eyes set dead ahead on the road…a road that was leading them to Chiyoh's countryside villa, where she was waiting to meet them to discuss the upcoming abduction and murder of Alana and Margot. And now Hannibal was pissed at her. Or was he pissed at Will?

When the high falsetto of the singing began in the music, Will reached up to the dash console and switched the CD player off, casting them into silence again, which was presently better than the ominousness of operas and orchestras and daunting singing in foreign languages. Hannibal glanced at his hand when he did so, but not at Will himself, and Will decided to just address the unwelcomed elephant in the car,

"You're mad," he sighed, "don't be mad…" he added and pursed his lips, shaking his head, "…she did it deliberately to get my guard down, because I'd basically told her...that I was going to find you so that I could kill you." he looked at Hannibal, "I had no idea she was so protective of you…a lesson learned the hard way, _twice_." he mumbled the last part with a huff of laughter, glancing at the windshield when rain droplets started to appear.

Hannibal didn't seem appeased by the explanation and so Will decided to just change the subject,

"Is the villa we're going to Chiyoh's, or is it yours, but she lives in it?" he asked neutrally as the rain started to fall more consistently. Hannibal switched on the windshield wipers, glancing in the side mirrors as he spoke,

"It's mine, she is living there as my tenant, legally."

"But she doesn't pay you." Will guessed.

"No, she doesn't." he answered evenly, flexing his hands around the steering wheel again.

Will sighed and shifted again in his seat, wishing Hannibal would stop with the stony tension,

"How much further?" he rubbed a hand over his forehead and Hannibal took a beat to respond with,

"Fifteen minutes." just that, curt and flat.

Will got fed up then,

"Seriously, Hannibal, you _asked_ how she managed to get me off my guard, I tell you and now you're going to be upset about it?" he confronted it head on, turning his head to look at Hannibal more directly, "Childish." he added and shook his head, taking his glasses off his face and sitting back again, looking out at the rain drenching the open land.

After some silence, in which Will sat irritably staring at the rainfall, Hannibal spoke,

"I am aware that my…displeasure," he chose the word carefully, "is misplaced and unnecessary, for that reason, I feel it's best if I refrain from discussing it further." he said evenly, no inflection in his tone whatsoever.

Will huffed,

"But you're upset…or displeased, anyway, right…so, is this…what…are you…" Will didn't know how to ask if Chiyoh's wellbeing was in danger, "…Chiyoh isn't, she doesn't have to…" Will sighed, "… **Hannibal**." he finished, stressing the man's name and hoping his exasperated tone conveyed his question.

Hannibal glanced at him and then back to the road and slowly, he smirked,

"You're concerned I'll do something to harm Chiyoh, Will?" he asked and what Will distinctly noticed was that Hannibal didn't say 'kill' her, just harm her.

"I wouldn't use the word concerned," he said in a bored tone, "rather, that I have… _reservations_ , about you doing something to harm Chiyoh." he clarified.

"Well you needn't have reservations," Hannibal said calmly, "I have no ill intent toward Chiyoh, even if I find her method used to distract you to be rather…simple minded…on both your parts." his lips twitched down again in displeasure, "A sadly predictable type of deception."

It was Will's turn to be annoyed and he laughed humorlessly,

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't be the first time a woman's gotten one up on me, so forgive me my fallibility, Hannibal, sadly, I am only human." he said the last part in a quiet but clipped tone and glared at the now pouring rain, coming down in sheets and making the side landscape indiscernible.

"And what am I?" Hannibal asked, curious, amused.

Will despised his tone and as usual, he was the one to raise his voice, if only just,

"You? You…Hannibal, are an asshole." Will said plainly, and Hannibal raised an eyebrow, "You're upset by the fact that Chiyoh and I kissed for like…a few seconds, **years** ago, with the ulterior motive of her trying to **kill** me, and instead of just owning that, you turn around and insult me." Will was pissed off because the insult was justified, he'd been so stupid, latching onto any modicum of affection he'd been able to find, rather than having just accepted it from the most earnest place it'd been offered…by Hannibal. It was shitty enough living with it himself, remembering how pathetic he'd been, but knowing Hannibal knew just made it worse.

"I already admitted I was displeased."

Will laughed humorlessly again,

"Oh yes, you did, right before you saw fit to point out how _simple minded_ I was for letting a beautiful woman kiss me without first assuming she was going to shove me off a moving train." he sounded appropriately sarcastic.

Hannibal sighed, eyes focused on the road as he clenched his jaw,

"Will-…"

"I'm well aware of what an idiot I was. I know I _let_ bad things… _terrible_ things happen to and around me because I was determined not to accept what I knew was inside me," Will really wanted to shut up, but feeling like Hannibal looked down on him just rubbed him all kinds of the wrong way, "It has been established **many** times that I was too scared and too weak and too needy, wanting normalcy for too long,"

"…Will…" Hannibal tried again.

"I fucked up time and time again, I wasted years-…"

"I apologize." Hannibal said audibly, still not raising his voice.

"…-that we could have been together, instead I was trying to live a maddeningly pol-…" Will blinked several times and turned to look at Hannibal again, "…what did you say?" because Hannibal's tone had been sincere, his voice a bit tense, but his words totally honest.

Hannibal glanced at Will, his expression unguarded and as soft as Hannibal was capable of appearing, which wasn't much physically but meant so much for Will emotionally,

"I said, I apologize." he repeated and Will's mouth closed as he frowned lightly. Hannibal removed his right hand from the steering wheel and held it out, palm upturned between them. And in the few seconds that Will stared at his hand, he heard Hannibal's throat click on a tense swallow, before Will quickly raised his hand and slid it into Hannibal's and interlocked their fingers.

Hannibal closed his fingers into the spaces between Will's and squeezed lightly, his eyes still on the road,

"I did not mean to upset you, or to insult you." he wet his lips slowly, his single hand steady on the wheel, "I have little experience with managing personal jealousy, it was a foreign concept to me...before you." he confessed, glancing at Will.

Will stared at Hannibal, completely thrown by the random apology.

He swallowed lightly and squeezed Hannibal's warm hand in turn, feeling the older man's smooth skin underneath the pads of his fingers as all of the anger he'd been letting seep into him immediately drained away.

He hated arguing or fighting with Hannibal anyway.

Will scratched the nails of his other hand into the denim of his blue jeans as he stared at the dashboard, choosing to be quiet for a few minutes. When Hannibal withdrew his hand to indicate left and was taking the next turn into a road more densely lined with trees, Will took in a breath,

"Yes." he said quietly, noticing that it was marginally colder in the car, the rainfall having dropped the temperature outside. Hannibal glanced at him with raised eyebrows,

"Yes?" he repeated in a questioning tone.

"To your initial question, yes, Chiyoh's reason for pushing me off a train is connected to why we don't like one another." he clarified. Hannibal smirked slightly,

"Because you told her you were going to kill me?" Will nodded, glancing at Hannibal, who continued to smile,

"She must have really believed your conviction to do so, to have made such a blatant attempt on your life," Hannibal commented casually, "although, I don't think she necessarily expected you would be killed by the fall." he added.

"Incapacitated, paralyzed, comatose," Will stated with a false curving smile, "if I'd hit the tracks in the wrong position I could have been any one of those, including dead."

Hannibal acknowledged the fact with a subtle tilt of his head,

"You awoke a darkness in her, Will, as I had awoken it in you." he pointed out.

"Yeah…" Will snorted, "…unlike me though, she hit the ground running. It was less than 48 hours between her first murder and her next attempt at it."

Hannibal's smile slanted wider,

"Chiyoh always was a fast learner."

Will huffed a sarcastic laugh with a 'you don't say expression' and he settled on a frown as a thought occurred to him,

"It didn't make sense to me though, that she didn't just shoot to kill, when she shot me outside the Uffizi Gallery." he commented.

"Have you never tried to assume her point of view?" Hannibal asked, curious.

"It didn't seem important…considering everything that took place following that." he said off-handedly, which was truly something of a feat in the face of what had happened in the days and years after.

Will had come a long way.

Probably on purpose, Hannibal remained quiet, knowing that Will would take the time to think on it, to analyze Chiyoh's actions and try to make sense of them. And Will did, he let his eyes close briefly as he backtracked to that day in the Uffizi Gallery, back to the warm feeling that had settled throughout his body at seeing Hannibal after so long, to have heard his voice, recalling his first words to Will; _If I saw you every day, forever, Will, I would remember this time,_ and how Will's heart had felt constricted, his chest full and sore at hearing them.

He fast-forwarded in his mind then, through the rest of their conversation, to Hannibal's question, his answer, his next move in the game; _Now is the hardest test, not letting rage and frustration, nor forgiveness, keep you from thinking._

Because Hannibal had always been playing...

Even in that moment when they'd been reunited after so long, he'd been pressing Will's buttons, pushing him in the most honest direction, poking at his feelings, advising him not to let his forgiveness for Hannibal interfere with his determinations. Essentially having urged Will to try and kill him, to see if Will would, if he even _could_ …only to turn around and be admonishing about it afterward, to take an electrical bone saw to Will's head with the intention of eating his brains…

…but wait, Will had skipped Chiyoh in the scenario, she had to fit in somehow.

She'd been perched on the roof of the Uffizi with her rifle, she'd been waiting, watching, somehow knowing, up there at exactly the right time, in exactly the right place, almost as if she'd been _expecting_ …

"Ah…" Will said when it hit him, opening his eyes as he laughed a breathy, amused and wholly unsurprised sound, "…she told you I was coming, she made it to Florence first and found you, you'd already seen her. She was _waiting_ for me to make my move." he sighed and leaned his head back on the rest, "That's why she didn't kill me, because you told her not to."

"She wasn't pleased. She thought I was being careless." Hannibal responded, indirectly confirming Will was right.

"Until you told her that you'd kill me yourself?" Will asked with a lazily raised eyebrow.

Hannibal glanced at him but didn't answer right away, because he was slowing the car down and turning onto a sand coloured gravel road which, after a few turns up the inclining stretch, led to a large, secluded and fenced off property surrounded by trees, the gate of which was slowly rolling open. Hannibal drove into the property, past the front of the double story, rustic-stucco finished villa and he parked at the side of it, behind the single other car parked there, a black Jeep Grand Cherokee. And somehow it made so much sense that a deceptively slight and dangerous woman like Chiyoh would drive an imposingly large car.

Once they were parked behind the SUV, Hannibal killed the engine and sat back before looking at Will,

"Much like yourself with regards to me, Will, I had resolved to kill you when next we met again, had it been in Florence or anywhere else." he confessed evenly. Will didn't look at Hannibal, pursing his lips for a moment before he spoke,

"Actually, I hadn't resolved to kill you, I was still conflicted about it right up until the moment Chiyoh shot me." he confessed as well. There was a moment of silence and rainfall before Hannibal said,

"I suppose we owe Mason a measure of thanks. Technically, he saved your life." with the wipers off there was no visibility through any of the windows and Will just watched the water cascade over the glass.

His voice was neutral when he said,

"By that reasoning, we owe Alana thanks as well."

They'd had that discussion a long time ago. Will had been told of the bargain struck between Alana and Hannibal whilst the older man had been restrained in the pigpens of Muskrat Farm. The bargain of Alana having asked, with the terms of setting Hannibal free, that he would save Will's life as well as take the blame for Mason Verger's murder. Hannibal had reminded her of his promise to kill her at the time, that one day he would fulfill that promise and even after that, she'd agreed to cut him loose anyway.

And Will was well aware of what Alana had put on the line to save his life…but he hadn't explicitly asked her to. And it wasn't his fault that when she'd made the decision to help him, she'd still been clinging to a version of him that had already been waning, struggling to hold on, playing Hannibal's games. And when Will had urged her to spill blood that night, he'd just been doing what she'd said she was doing at the time…he'd been putting an emphasis on self-preservation.

Hannibal was looking intently at him, probably trying to assess Will's feelings on the matter of Alana now that he'd brought her up, and Will turned his head to look at Hannibal, initiating and holding eye contact, and when it dragged on for too long, he raised an expectant eyebrow at the older man. If Hannibal was looking for cracks, for tells of oncoming betrayal, he would find nothing, because there was nothing to find.

Hannibal smirked then and reached out, lightly touching the side of Will's face, his thumb stroking over Will's left cheek, his fingers grazing Will's neck,

"And we will thank her, when we see her again." he said slyly.

Will returned the smirk and leaned in on instinct, just as Hannibal did, their lips coming together for a few brief kisses and light touches of their tongues before they drew apart and moved to unclip their seatbelts.

"I don't suppose we have an umbrella?" Will asked, grimacing at the heavy rainfall outside the windows.

"No, I don't believe we do." Hannibal answered with a short sigh, also glancing at the rainfall through the windshield, "We'll bring the luggage in when the rain stops." he decided.

Will nodded in agreement, sliding his spectacles back onto his face before he opened his door, followed by Hannibal, and the two of them hurriedly shut their respective doors and ran around the corner to the front of the house as Hannibal locked the car and the lights of it flashed behind them.

At the front door, Hannibal didn't knock, he simply opened the door and let Will go inside first, before he followed and shut the door behind them. In the foyer, Will cuffed a hand through his nearly drenched hair, his clothes were no better, shirt and jeans clinging to him, made darker by the water. He removed his water spattered glasses so he could see Hannibal properly, and while being dressed in all black made the fact that he was wet not immediately noticeable, the older man's hair was obviously wet, plastered to his head and dripping.

They looked one another over in the silence of the foyer, the heavy rain trapped outside, water dripping off their hair and when their eyes locked, they both just smiled, Hannibal's a soft upward curving of his mouth and Will a flash of teeth and a soft exhale. Hannibal stepped closer then, so that their wet clothed chests were just short of touching, his hand sliding up into Will's wet hair and his eyes falling half closed before he dipped his head and kissed the side of Will's neck, lingering there with his warm lips pressed to Will's cool skin. And Will's eyes drifted shut, his free hand coming up to hold the side of Hannibal's neck just a moment before the older man trailed his nose along Will's jaw and then brought their slightly parted mouths together.

Will sighed contentedly into the kiss, their lips sliding together as their mouths opened and closed almost in sync, their tongues crossing into each other's mouths slowly and sensually. And Will might have moaned after too long, forgetting where he was with Hannibal kissing him like that, but the sound of steady, clipping heels approaching at a slow gait on marble tiled floors brought him back to where they presently were…in which person's house.

Ugh, Chiyoh.

At the sound of her approach, Hannibal didn't pull away abruptly from the kiss, or even really at all. Will's back was to Chiyoh and when he opened his eyes to the sound of her footsteps, it was at the same time that he returned another slow slide of his tongue into the kiss, matching Hannibal, who had opened his eyes just then as well, having settled them on Chiyoh standing somewhere behind Will.

He drew back only then, with a slow drag of his lips from Will's, a soft smack sounding, and Will didn't doubt that he kept his eyes on Chiyoh all the while, even as he pressed another light kiss just near Will's ear.

Hannibal eased off then, his hand sliding from Will's wet hair and down over his shoulder as he stepped to the side and around Will, smiling at their host, his tone pleasant when he spoke,

"Chiyoh, I'm pleased to see you looking well." he sounded sincere too.

Will, after licking his lips and taking a deep, quiet breath to calm his racing pulse, turned around to face Chiyoh.

She was watching Hannibal as the older man approached her, but her eyes cut to Will when Hannibal leaned in and gave her a cheek to cheek kiss, and then she immediately looked back at the older man when his fingers came up afterward to feign touching her face, a light implied gesture of affection not carried through, but Chiyoh looked pleased all the same,

"And you as well," she said to Hannibal, and then glanced at Will, "no new wounds to treat."

Will was surprised by the fact that Hannibal had made any kind of physical contact in greeting her, but then he recalled that he'd either not been present or had been unconscious each time he and Hannibal had been around Chiyoh at the same time, so he hadn't ever seen just how they greeted one another in the first place.

When she looked at him though, Will kept his expression indifferent, even as Hannibal looked amused, apparently fully recovered from his jealousy of earlier.

"Chiyoh." Will said blandly, necessarily civil.

"Will." she responded likewise, standing ramrod straight just beside Hannibal. And she was dressed in clinging all black clothes, just as Hannibal was, wearing a fitting turtleneck, tight jeans and a pair of calf high, leather boots with heels that leveled her at about Hannibal's height. She had always been reasonably tall, Will's height in low heel boots, now with the boots she presently wore, she would smugly stand that one annoying inch taller than him, looking as svelte and condescending as ever, with her hair tied back neatly in a low ponytail.

She looked over him, taking in his wet clothes and then she turned to look at Hannibal, from the bottom up, over the length of his body, up to his hair and then finally she leveled her gaze with Hannibal's before she stated,

"I'll fetch you both towels," she paused, considering before she added, "and then I'll fetch an umbrella and I'll bring your luggage in, so you can change your clothes."

"Fetch two umbrellas," Will said immediately, and they both looked at him, "I'll help you." he added curtly and slid his eyes to Hannibal, who inclined his head agreeably before tossing the car keys to Will, who caught it easily.

Chiyoh stared at Will for a moment, and then she looked at Hannibal who met her eyes with a level gaze, and after a moment of silent communication between them, the tension lessened in Chiyoh's shoulders and she turned gracefully and walked away, her heels still clicking audibly even after she'd disappeared out of sight.

* * *

A half hour later, after Will had helped Chiyoh bring in their luggage, in absolute silence, and she'd shown them to the guestroom room they'd be sharing, he and Hannibal had changed their clothes, unpacked what was necessary and then made their way back downstairs to find her.

She'd been waiting for them in the large living room of the villa, standing at the windows, cutting a stark figure of black against the soft interior décor and white-gray overcast light streaming in from outside. The furniture, walls, fittings and finishes of the villa were all done in soft light colors, the walls were beige stucco and the ceilings all exposed maple wooden beams, the floors were salmon colored marble tile, all except for the bedrooms and upper floor, which had wooden floors. The furniture was in white and brown woods, the sofas were white leather with blue covers, the drapes all white…and just in general, the décor seemed like a direct contrast to Chiyoh in every way. But then, the décor contradicted Hannibal too.

Presently, Hannibal also stood out against the coloring of the villa, having changed out of dark colors into more dark colors, he was now wearing a dark purple button down shirt under a black cardigan, with black formal pants and his Chelsea boots. Will was more neutrally dressed in a sand colored, shawl-collar sweater over a white T-shirt with a fresh pair of dark gray jeans and tan, suede, lace up ankle boots.

Despite the villa actually being his house on paper, Hannibal was politely treating the space as Chiyoh's, because it was her home, even if the place didn't seem remotely lived in as far as Will could see.

"How long…have you been living here?" he asked, finding it hard to believe that she stayed in one place for too long, especially after having been stuck in Lithuania for so many years.

Chiyoh had offered them something to drink when they'd returned downstairs a little while ago and Hannibal had asked for a specific red wine, which –obviously- Chiyoh had, while Will had asked for a double shot of whiskey. At the moment, they were all in the living room, Hannibal having taken a seat on one side of the double couch while Will remained standing on the open side of the lounge where he was able to see them both.

Chiyoh had just settled on the three seat couch when Will asked her the question, and after she crossed her legs and sat back in a relaxed but formal position, just as Hannibal was, she sipped from her dry white wine and then glanced at Will,

"About six months." she answered in her usual apathetic, accented tone.

That wasn't very long at all, which got Will thinking,

"And before this?" he asked another question, his mind feeling restless now that they were about to discuss business. Chiyoh looked at him for a longer moment before she turned to look at Hannibal, who simply raised an eyebrow and sipped his wine, curious probably too see where Will was going with his questions. Polite small talk or…?

"I've lived in many places." she answered as she slid her gaze back to Will.

"Yeah, but specifically before you came to Italy, where were you?"

Chiyoh narrowed her eyes at him,

"Japan." her tone was clipped, irritable, so Will moved on to voice his point,

"So far away, nowhere near Europe…" he said against the rim of his glass, but he didn't drink and instead he lowered the tumbler, "…so how did you find out Alana was in Florence?" he asked curiously, frowning.

Chiyoh didn't miss a beat,

"Because I was always looking for her." she stated firmly and looked at Hannibal, openly unimpressed with Will.

So Will's suspicions had been right all along, Chiyoh had been actively searching for Alana all these years.

"Will was aware that I had someone looking for her, but until you called me two days ago, I don't think he had been certain it was you." Hannibal clarified to her, glancing at Will who just blinked and averted his gaze to the windows. Will inhaled quietly before he continued with his train of thought,

"Still, though, I'm curious to know how you found her." he reiterated with a frown, "Because I, for one, find it hard to believe…that after all these years, Alana, suddenly just popped up on anyone's radar so specifically." he pointed out. Hannibal lowered his eyes in thought for a moment before he glanced at Chiyoh, but his eyes settled on Will when he spoke next,

"You suspect that it's a trap?"

"Do you really think I would contact Hannibal, if I thought for a second that it was a trap?" Chiyoh looked pissed off now, glaring at Will, her fingers lightly clenched around the bowl of her wine glass.

"How did you find Alana, Chiyoh?" Hannibal asked that time and Will sipped his whiskey to keep from smiling.

Chiyoh slid her cold glare from Will to Hannibal, but it neutralized when she was looking at the older man,

"Alana Verger and Margot Verger are not stupid. They would not be found, they would not make a mistake, they would protect their interests, their family, to the very best of their abilities and in whatever way their wealth could afford them. It is likely the reason they sold the Verger meat business, so that they would no longer be in the public eye anymore. At one point I had even begun to believe that they may have changed their names in order to remain so well hidden." she acknowledged the difficulty of her task before getting to her point, "So perhaps, to say that I found Alana specifically, was too direct."

Will frowned at the lack of explanation and Hannibal titled his head slightly, watching Chiyoh expectantly as she sipped her wine, the rain still pouring down outside filling the silence until she spoke again,

"But by finding the boy, I was able to find Alana...specifically." she half-glanced at Will on the last word.

"You found Morgan Verger?" Will asked, taking a slow step forward.

Chiyoh nodded once, placing her wine glass on the coffee table in front of the couch before she stood up and walked across the living room to where there was a large distressed white wood bureau,

"He attended a birthday party of a child friend just three weeks ago. A newly turned six year old boy, and for children in normal, happy homes, it is customary to make a big deal about such a thing." she sounded quite detached from the concept, Will was not surprised, "At these gatherings, there are always parents attending with their invited children to supervise, overcompensate and show off." she opened the top drawer in the bureau and took out a white A4 envelope from inside, closing the drawer again before walking back to the couch, passing Will with deliberate dismissal to hand the envelope to Hannibal.

As his eyes followed her, Will imagined many scenarios in which he retaliated to her subtle provocation quite violently, but of course, he would not follow through on any of the spontaneous fantasies, instead he just inhaled a calming breath and sipped his whiskey.

Hannibal uncrossed his legs and sat forward as he took the envelope, setting his wine glass down on the table before he flipped open the unstuck seal and reached in to pull out a few sheets of printed paper. Will walked around the table to stand beside where Hannibal sat, looking at the papers over the older man's shoulder as they both skimmed over the first page. When Hannibal flipped to the next page, he only glanced over it briefly before he handed the second page to Will, who removed his free hand from his pocket and took it to look at it more closely.

Will snorted, half disbelieving and half amused,

"You found him on Facebook?" he asked, looking at the page he held with raised eyebrows.

Chiyoh swallowed another sip of wine,

"Yes, I screen grabbed it so you could see the date of the post for yourselves, the photographs have since been removed, taken down within an hour of being posted that same day."

Will stared at the printed computer screen grab of a photograph from the child's birthday party. Someone, likely an attending, overcompensating, show off of a parent, had uploaded a picture of five children; three boys and two girls, who looked to range between the ages of 5 and 9. They were wealthy children, wearing expensive clothes and fancy party hats and they'd been grouped distractedly into the photo, not all of them even interested in the camera. In the background Will could see elaborately laid out food catering tables and more balloons and decorations than necessary for a private children's party, and in the distance of whatever large property they were on, he could see what appeared to be an enclosure with pony rides. And rather blatantly, above the posted photograph in the caption, it clearly read the names of the kids in the picture.

Morgan Verger's name among them.

"How did you come upon this?" Hannibal looked amused as he handed Will the rest of the pages with photos.

"I…employed someone about two years ago, someone who is discreet and works untraceably and only corresponds anonymously with whoever seeks their services. This person uses illegal software designed to track and search the internet for hits on key words. Everything and anything is filtered, from content on privately hosted websites, to blogs, emails, instant messengers, comments across the internet, passwords, usernames…and so on." she glanced between Will and Hannibal.

Will was preoccupied with staring at one of the photos, one of just the three boys that time and he was trying to decide which one was Morgan Verger since he didn't know if the names were typed in according to the order of the kids in the picture. He was listening as she went on though.

"Originally, I had sent a hit search list compiled of over 11000 singularly listed words and names, completely randomized. I made sure to mix in many names that were similar to Alana, Margot and Morgan along with their actual names and several names similar to that of Verger as well. Once a week I was sent results, thousands of hits at a time which I would personally narrow down to what I was specifically looking for and if any of them turned out to be actual possible leads, I'd follow it as far as it went." she kept her eyes on Hannibal.

Will lowered the pages he held to his side as he looked at her, impressed with how dedicated she had been to her task, just as always, where Hannibal was concerned. Also, the extent of her searching brought to light the fact that finding Alana had been something Hannibal considered to be at the top of his itinerary.

"Using a thing so vast reaching and unpredictable as the internet…clever girl." Hannibal praised her with a small smile, and though it was subtle, Will noticed Chiyoh's gaze warm slightly as she looked at Hannibal, she was pleased by the compliment.

"All of the leads I'd found had been dead ends, up until this one." she gestured at the pages Will held, "When I followed up on it from the Facebook user's name, I was able to find out a great deal, particularly that her child, who is one of the boys in the photos, attends a private school in Florence. And once I knew of the school, I was able to find out that the Verger boy attends there as well. After that, knowing the Verger's were in Florence, finding Alana was very easy." she finished and the drained the last sip of her wine.

Hannibal's smile was still present as he retrieved his wine from the table and sipped from it, licking his lips after and turning them slightly red. Will was watching him closely, waiting for whatever came next.

Hannibal's gaze drifted to the view beyond the windows as he contemplated whatever his plans would be now that they had Alana in their sights. After some silence passed, he slid his gaze back to Chiyoh and asked lightly,

"So, where in Florence is she?"

Chiyoh set her empty glass on the table, raising a delicate eyebrow,

"A penthouse in Signoria Square."

Will scoffed, eyebrows shooting up and Hannibal smiled properly then, with a quick flash of teeth,

"What an arrogant girl she is." he said sounding vibrantly delighted as he looked into his wine before finishing the last sip.

Will definitely agreed that Alana was far too arrogant. Clearly she had a death wish, because while it was smart in the sense that it was the last place Hannibal had thought she'd be hiding, in the end, living in the heart of the city of Florence was not only an insult to Hannibal directly, yet another reason for him to make her suffer, but it had also been his hunting grounds for _years._ Hannibal practically breathed Florence, it was his home away from every home. It was as if she was purposely traversing around in his territory in some sort of misbegotten act of spite.

And more than once, Hannibal had told Will how disappointed he was that he'd never have the chance to show Will Florence in detail, for its beauty and richness of culture and atmosphere. He'd talked about its appeal, the city's hold over him at length to Will, with such an honest smile and a wistful tone every time that Will was often able to imagine it as vividly as if he'd been there with Hannibal, sometimes able to feel the way Hannibal felt about the city. So for Alana to have set her new roots in Florence…well…Will just couldn't bring himself to feel at all bad for her, even though he barely had before.

After the information had settled in, Will picked up the conversation,

"So, how do we get to them? Surely they have body guards by the dozen." he pointed out, sliding his eyes from Hannibal's dark visage to look at Chiyoh. Chiyoh nodded in response, acknowledging Will's words as truth,

"I have been spending a lot of time in Florence since finding her, following her and Margot's patterns and observing their comings and goings and you are right, they are always surrounded by body guards and with someone I assume to be Morgan's nanny. So if we were to attempt to take any one of the Verger's by force, we would not succeed."

Will noticed that she used the words 'by force' and also how she said 'we', which meant she had a plan and was going to be actively involved in whatever went down. So really, she had come a long way from the woman who Will had tricked into killing someone. Much like Will himself, she was very dangerous.

"How else would we take them?" he frowned at her, absently gesturing with his unfinished drink.

Chiyoh looked at Will for a moment, a hint of irritation in her expression telling Will that she wished she weren't having the conversation with Hannibal **and** Will, and that just pissed him off, making him clench his jaw and return the look, because it was high time she got the fucking message that there was no longer Hannibal **without** Will.

And in that moment, Will thought of the engagement ring and how much weight, meaning and influence something so tiny could hold. He imagined Chiyoh would take him far more seriously if she knew just how permanent a fixture he was in Hannibal's life. For right then though, only the fact that Hannibal sat quietly, leaving Will to ask and speak, gave Chiyoh the indication that Will had an equal standing beside Hannibal, that what he said and asked mattered and was important.

He knew it wasn't enough though, Chiyoh still didn't consider him permanent and it irked him endlessly.

"I suggest," she said to Hannibal, "that we don't take Alana and Margot at all."

Hannibal had placed his empty glass on the coffee table and was sitting back again, legs crossed, arms folded over his lap, a picture of casualness, but his eyes narrowed slightly at Chiyoh's words.

Still, it was Will who asked,

"What do you mean by that?" and he projected false calm, because by his empathy he thought he already knew what she was saying, and he felt little snaps of tension move all along his spine at the idea as he regarded her.

She didn't even look at Will, kept her eyes on Hannibal only,

"The best chance we have of getting Alana and Margot with very little hassle, risk and no police involvement, is through the exact same means I managed to find them in the first place." she said calmly, quietly.

Will was starting to seethe, because while the disrespect she was carefully showing was bad enough, hearing her suggest that they use Morgan Verger as bait just unsettled him further.

Hannibal swallowed lightly and raised an eyebrow, speaking before Will could,

"You suggest we use the boy as leverage?" he enquired neutrally and Will kept working his jaw quietly.

"It is the safest and cleanest way. Morgan Verger has never been printed in the media except for when he was a toddler. He has been hidden away and sheltered very excessively, has had limited social interaction outside of people his parents permit him to be around. And so not only is he little more than just another face in a crowd, he is also likely very unassuming of danger, unaware of compromise in his surroundings. And a boy with a permanent false sense of safety would be an easy target." she answered evenly.

Clearly she'd given it a lot of thought.

And Will was ready to start spitting venom for how calmly she suggested kidnapping a child, a boy who wasn't even six years old yet, but rather, he decided to wait to hear what Hannibal had to say. Hannibal was very quiet right then though, he appeared to be thinking about it, genuinely considering the idea and Will started to feel worry and nausea, because if Hannibal changed his mind about not hurting Morgan Verger, Will would feel let down…betrayed, Hannibal would be going back on his word and he didn't even know how he'd deal with that…

Will was staring down at Hannibal, and when the older man looked up at him with a hint of resignation in his expression so subtle Will was only just able to see it, he held his breath,

"It's up to you, Will." was all he said, completely serious, trusting Will with the important decision.

Chiyoh looked surprise, her gaze haltingly shifting from Hannibal to Will, her eyes just a fraction wider than before, and Will was as surprised as she was, but he didn't show it, he just stood carefully still, face as unreadable as he could manage.

He recognized that Hannibal was essentially putting the choice into his hands of whether or not all three of them would risk their lives in an unnecessarily dangerous attempt of physically acquiring their targets, over the simpler method of abducting Morgan Verger. So Will had to think carefully about it, properly consider the option and the kidnapping and all of its implications, of exactly what it would entail.

There was silence then as Will dropped his gaze to the liquid in his glass. Chiyoh got up, disappearing into the kitchen with her and Hannibal's wine glasses. Hannibal sat patiently and quiet, thoughtfully staring across the lounge, out through the windows. When Chiyoh walked back in with the wine glasses refilled, Will sighed and closed his eyes, retreating into his imagination so he could mentally play out the various scenarios of how to go about capturing Alana and Margot without hurting Morgan. And when none of those seemed advisable or survivable, Will resigned himself to contemplating different scenarios of Chiyoh's idea, and the best ways to do it.

When a certain scenario prevailed over all the others, he accepted it with a mixture of unpleasant feelings, because it wasn't ideal in any way, having to kidnap a child, but it would still work, they could make it work. Will finished his whiskey then and stepped forward to place the tumbler on the table, and still holding onto the pages in his one hand, he folded his arms across his chest and looked at Chiyoh,

"Morgan Verger doesn't get hurt," he said firmly and she looked at him slowly, "we'll take him because it's the cleanest way, but we'll only use him insofar as telling Alana and Margot that we have him so they come to us willingly. Aside from keeping him from his parents until this is over, the less he knows or understands of what is happening, the better." he honestly thought it was the best option, so long as Morgan came out totally unharmed.

Physically at least, considering that he'd be an orphan and there was no way around that.

Chiyoh blinked at him placidly,

"Are you hoping he won't notice he's been taken by strangers, or after, when he is returned to a world in which he no longer has parents?" she asked blandly, so deadpan that Will wasn't even sure whether or not she was being sarcastic. He offered her an expression that was, for all obvious intents and purposes, minatory in nature as he spoke low and even while staring unblinkingly at her,

"Our only other options besides keeping him the dark are that we tell him, or perhaps, show him what we're going to do with Alana and Margot…or, that he dies too," Will shook his head slowly, "and the latter is not something I will be a part of." he said surely, and he meant it.

Didn't he?

Of course.

But shouldn't he have said that he wouldn't allow it?

Will felt it was too late to reword that, and anyway, he was confident that Hannibal knew Will wouldn't forgive him if anything happened to Morgan Verger.

Chiyoh looked at Hannibal then and raised an eyebrow and Will looked at Hannibal too, frowning slightly.

Of course the final verdict would come from Hannibal, who slid his eyes from Chiyoh to Will and then lowered his gaze to his hands, and after he placed his wine glass on the table, he slowly shifted his hands so his fingers were interlocked, his lips parting on an inhale before he spoke,

"No physical harm will come to Morgan Verger," Hannibal said evenly, blinking his gaze up to Will, "but I cannot promise the same for his state of mind." Will clenched his jaw and drew his eyebrows together, displeased but not interrupting as Hannibal went on, "I will take steps to assure that he is exposed to as little as possible," he said still looking at Will, "but it is not guaranteed that he will come out of this mentally and emotionally unscathed, and I need to know that you understand that, Will."

They stared at one another for a moment, and while it was a hard pill to swallow, Will did so with only a silent sore catch in his throat before he nodded. He did understand. And at least Morgan would be physically unharmed, Will would just have to try and manage everything else as it happened and deal with his feelings about it.

Satisfied that Will understood, Hannibal looked at Chiyoh again,

"How will you acquire the boy?" he asked seriously, his tone firm and all business.

Chiyoh shifted, setting her wine glass down before sitting back and folding her arms over her chest,

"The only place I could get to him that he would not be under professional guard, is when he is at school. His day starts at eight and ends at two-o-clock, and he is walked into and out of the school by Margot every day, in the mornings at ten minutes to eight and in the afternoon she fetches him at approximately five minutes after two. She is very punctual about it, and so the only windows of opportunity I have will be narrow and risky. For that reason, I suggest sedating the boy so I am able to move him quickly and without hassle."

Will swallowed tensely, but said nothing.

"Can you manage it?" Hannibal asked.

"I can help her," Will offered quickly, wanting to be there to make sure the boy would be okay, and when Hannibal looked at him to immediately say no, Will quickly elaborated, "obviously I would remain completely out of public sight, but, Hannibal, I can at least be in Florence in case she needs any kind of back up." he unfolded his arms, gesturing to Chiyoh, who did not look even remotely amendable to the idea.

"I'd rather you didn't." Hannibal stated plainly.

"Hannibal," Will walked around the older man's legs and sat down on the edge of the empty sofa seat next to him, facing him, close to him, "to this day, I am still considered to be only 'allegedly' involved in your escape, and that is only in America. In Italy my picture didn't even make the papers, my name was printed here and there in Florence, but overall, I am generally assumed dead and the chance of someone recognizing me or even looking at me twice are ridiculously low…" he took a breath in the face of Hannibal's unwavering resolve, the man staring at him with an unchanging expression of adamancy, "…and again, I swear, I won't take any chances, I won't even be out in public."

"I work better alone." Chiyoh interjected stonily and Will raised his eyebrows as he turned his head to look at her before smiling humorlessly and holding the papers up,

"I don't know which one of these _distinctly Caucasian_ boys is Morgan Verger, but…I do know that if something goes wrong and Morgan Verger's kidnapping is on the news before we make it out of Florence,it'd be far less suspicious to appear as a mixed family leaving the city with a sleeping child, than it would for a frosty and austere Asian woman to be leaving with a white kid in her backseat."

Chiyoh's eyes narrowed, probably because Will had used the word 'frosty'. It had been a direct insult.

"Will…" was Hannibal's quiet reprimand for his unnecessary remark.

Will closed his eyes for a moment and sighed, taking his spectacles off his face and pressing his fingers into his eyes as he mumbled out an apology to Chiyoh. Jack had once told him that fear made him rude, and while he wasn't exactly afraid right then, he certainly was scared for Morgan Verger.

Chiyoh seemed marginally appeased by the apology and Hannibal continued to stare at Will,

"You are worried that Chiyoh will not handle the boy with the necessary sensitivity?" he asked knowingly.

Will put his glasses back on as he looked at Hannibal again,

"She doesn't have _any_ experience with children, does she?" he glanced at Chiyoh, "Do you?" he asked her.

She remained stony and silent, while Hannibal said mildly,

"But you do."

Will felt an unwelcome tension settle in his gut and he didn't look at Hannibal when he answered confidently,

"Yes, I do." he pursed his lips after he said it. Anytime Molly and Walter came up it just annoyed Will, because Hannibal would give off a distinctly unpleasant vibe, no matter how many times Will told the older man that his former family no longer mattered to him, it never helped to ease Hannibal's grudge about it.

"I work alone." Chiyoh repeated firmly and then looked off to the side at the windows, seemingly uninterested in trying to be convinced otherwise. Will frowned, and he was about to try again to stress that it would be better if he helped, but then all at once, he understood what was happening…

Will's frown deepened and he swallowed tensely as he turned to look to at Hannibal, who was watching him evenly.

' _They don't trust me.'_ he realized with outward calm, but inside, he felt a dull ache, real hurt, at knowing that Hannibal felt that way, that he still didn't believe Will meant what he'd said in their kitchen two days before, that Hannibal still believed Will would turn on him.

He kept his feelings off his face like a pro though, schooling his features into a mask of annoyed resignation,

"Fine…" he nodded and stood up, "…excuse me." he said only to be sarcastically polite, and he dropped the pages onto the table untidily as he walked away, heading straight to the staircase and going upstairs.

* * *

Will closed the bedroom door behind him and stood with his hand pressed to the light wood for a moment, still swallowing down hurt, but he barely had time to process the feelings running through him when he heard the sound of steady, even footfalls coming down the hall toward the bedroom.

He knew it was Hannibal coming to talk to him, and Will stepped back from the door and shoved his hands in his pockets as he turned and walked away from the door just as it opened behind him,

"Couldn't give me five minutes alone?" he asked in an irritable but quiet tone as he walked to the closed balcony doors and stood there, staring out at the gray rain-blurred landscape.

Hannibal shut the door and then sighed softly,

"Something upset you, I-…"

"Something?" Will cut him off with raised eyebrows, snorting and then closing his eyes and taking a quiet breath, "You would have both saved me a lot of wasted words down there if you'd just said…from the very beginning," he opened his eyes and feigned a glance over his shoulder, "that I'm considered a liability and that I require a level of containment." he glared out at the rain again, jaw lightly clenching, shoulders tense.

Hannibal was silent, standing somewhere behind Will, not close enough to smell his cologne, but close enough that he was able to speak relatively quiet and still be heard as he said,

"Can you blame Chiyoh for not trusting you?"

Will half rolled his eyes,

"No, I don't blame Chiyoh, she and I have a…" he made a face to himself, "…mutual disdain for one another," he sucked in air through his teeth, "but you, on the other hand, extended me insincere trust apparently." he bit out.

Hannibal sighed again, but it was exasperated that time,

"I could say the same about you-…"

"What?" Will half turned, eyes on the ground, frowning.

"…-you have such a unique gift to read peoples intentions and see their perspectives, and yet instead of applying that gift to me, you immediately revert back to our old dynamic, Will, wherein you mistrust me first and ask questions later." Hannibal stated calmly.

Will turned around properly then and looked at the older man, and Hannibal looked just a little annoyed, which in turn annoyed Will,

"So you're saying, what? That you do trust me, that you do want me to go?" Will asked questions rather than tried to read Hannibal, because Will didn't want to go through their relationship trying to be in Hannibal's head all the time, it was exhausting. And when he could actually manage it, it felt dishonest and too intrusive.

Whether Hannibal understood that, Will wasn't sure, but he answered the question without making Will insist or fight for an answer,

"I do trust you, yes…but no, I do not want you to go." he clarified honestly, concern etched into his features.

Will felt his edges softening, tension leaving him as he sighed,

"The chances that I get caught, Hannibal, are….so minimal." he truly believed it too, Will knew how to go unnoticed, he'd done it for most of his goddam life.

Hannibal stood a few feet away as his eyes tracked over Will from head to toe and back again, before the older man took a deep breath and then approached Will, coming to stand close against him. He took Will's head into his hands gently and looked over his face, his eyes slowly settling on Will's mouth, their breaths mingling for long seconds as they said nothing and just shared each other's space.

After a while Hannibal slowly wet his lips and then he carefully removed Will's glasses while he spoke,

"I cannot tell you what to do, Will, you are free…free to stay, free to go." he said quietly and Will exhaled in relief when the ache in his chest eased and he raised his hands to settle on Hannibal's sides, clutching handfuls of the older man's soft cotton shirt, "I'll be here regardless, beside you or waiting for you to return," he paused, inhaling slowly before he spoke again, "I only ask…that you do in fact return." he finished.

And that last thing he said, it could have meant that Hannibal wanted Will to come back, to not get killed or apprehended, or it could even have meant that he hoped Will didn't chicken out and run off, whichever it was, the request was sincere.

Will leaned his weight into Hannibal's firm body so they were standing with their fronts flush. He knew at least that the latter concern was completely out of the realm of possibility because he would **never** run off and leave Hannibal. With his own hurt eased, he sought to relieve Hannibal's concern, pressing a kiss to the older man's chin as he smiled softly and looked straight into his red-brown eyes,

"When are you going to realize that I'm here to stay?" he whispered his question just there between them, before pressing his face into Hannibal's neck, inhaling the heady and comforting scent of the older man as he brought his arms up to settle around Hannibal's neck, pulling him close.

In turn, Hannibal pressed his mouth to Will's hair and circled his arms firmly around Will's waist, holding their bodies tightly together in a close hug, the sort that held a perfectly soft and sincere kind of intimacy, a genuine intimacy…the sort of hug that before one another, neither Will nor Hannibal had ever experienced. They stood like that for a long minute, just holding each other close with their hearts beating steadily, just out of sync, their bodies warm and fitting, receptive of one another in every way.

At length, Hannibal spoke against Will's hair,

"Perhaps never, I still have trouble believing you are here with me most days as it is." he sounded amused at his own terribly sweet confession of his feelings. Will smiled, his body completely relaxed against Hannibal's,

"So what's it going to take to make you believe me?" he mumbled into Hannibal's neck, and for a fleeting second he considered making the suggestion that they get married, but before he could say such a dumb thing, Hannibal answered with a kiss against his just about dry curls,

"I think just…time." and it was a serious answer, one that suggested that maybe even getting engaged or married wouldn't be enough.

But the commitment of _choosing_ to marry Hannibal, Will knew, would be significant.

And when the time came, Will would say 'yes' for sure. There was no doubt in his mind.

So Will smiled wider and held Hannibal tighter, closing his eyes and again he inhaled the pleasant scent of Hannibal's skin and his cologne and his shampoo before he said very quietly,

"We've got time." while thinking, _'We've got the rest of our lives.'_

* * *

Thanks for reading!


	2. Hold These Thoughts Now And Forever

**A/n: This chapter has been edited, mature content removed. Please view on AO3 for the full upload.**

* * *

Nearly all our originality comes from the stamp that time impresses upon our sensibility.

-Charles Baudelaire

* * *

 _Wednesday – 21 Sep 2022 – 9.09 AM_

Chiyoh left for Florence early the following morning, she'd said over the awkward and mostly quiet dinner they'd all shared the previous night, that she'd make the hour long drive early enough that she'd be able to monitor Morgan's school schedule again, as she'd been doing every day in the past three weeks.

It would be her last day of surveillance before they'd put their plan into action and abduct the boy. She refused to reveal her actual design for taking Morgan Verger though, or at least not around or to Will, but if Hannibal didn't know or was even curious about it, he didn't show it, he just seemed to trust her explicitly. But the one thing that had been settled for certain, was that Will would be going with Chiyoh for the actual kidnapping.

Presently Will was sitting up in bed, leaning back into pillows propped up against the white wrought iron headboard and enjoying a cup of coffee as he stared out through the closed doors of the balcony at the continued rainfall.

He'd woken up feeling rumpled and well rested, having been nestled deep under the soft bedcovers at the time, to a few leisurely lip to lip kisses and mingled content sighs between himself and Hannibal. And then, following their mumbled 'good mornings' and a few minutes of Hannibal nuzzling Will's hair, kissing his neck and sliding his hands in sensual touches over the skin beneath Will's sleep clothes, Hannibal had left Will in the bed feeling warm, fuzzy, loved and half hard, promising to return with coffee and breakfast.

And he had, ten minutes later, returned with a tray on which he'd carried two mugs of steaming coffee and two saucers with a large breakfast croissant, stuffed with sausage, egg and cheese, on each.

Will wondered if it was Chiyoh or Hannibal who'd made the croissants, because while Hannibal had -unusually- still been in bed when Will woke up, was still wearing his pajama pants and a beige pullover, his hair only just neat enough to suggest he'd brushed through it with his hands, it didn't mean he hadn't been up for hours already.

They'd eaten their breakfast in bed a while before and were now currently sitting in easy silence, Hannibal leaning back against pillows and the headboard as Will was, and Will was still nursing his coffee, while Hannibal's was long finished, his mug sitting in the saucer on his bedside nightstand.

He looked over at Hannibal, who was busy on his tablet -a common sight- as he sifted through his thoughts. Will had fallen asleep thinking about the inevitable kidnapping of Morgan Verger and had woken up still thinking about it –before Hannibal had started kissing him at least. And now he was back to thinking about it, and he'd been considering their options,

"Once we have Morgan," he said, apropos of nothing, "we should contact Margot…" Will licked traces of coffee from his lips, his eyes trailing from Hannibal's side profile upward to the white muslin curtains hanging from the rails of the four poster bed. He raised the mug to his lips then and sipped, blinking slowly, breathing quietly.

He felt surprisingly at ease there in Chiyoh's villa with Hannibal beside him, it felt almost like being at home.

"Why Margot?" Hannibal asked after a beat of silence, and out of Will's peripheral he noticed the man was still tapping away on his tablet. Will sighed softly and pursed his lips, they were warm from the coffee, a contrast to his skin which felt cool from the temperature drop that had resulted due to the rain.

He raised his eyebrows, looking again to the balcony doors when he answered,

"Alana isn't as attached to the child as Margot is." he mumbled against the rim of the sky blue mug.

"Oh?" Hannibal's interest was piqued now, and he lowered his tablet and straightened out his one leg so that both were flat over the unmade bedding, before he placed the tablet on the nightstand and crossed his legs at the ankles. Will turned his head to look at Hannibal and then brought his free hand up to rub at his eyes, before he reached for his spectacles on his nightstand where they were set beside his cellphone.

"Yeah, I only spoke to her once where the subject of the Verger boy was mentioned," Will slid his glasses onto his face and then he inhaled sleepily and turned to look at Hannibal again, "it was during the time when I was visiting you at the institute." he raised his mug to his lips and took a larger gulp of the liquid before continuing, "When I commented, I said…that it was good for Margot that she had her Verger baby," he raised his eyebrows, "and Alana was quick to tell me that he was **her** child, that she'd birthed him, but," Will shook his head, frowning lightly, "it wasn't said with maternal pride, she said it more like…someone who'd…who'd won something." he sighed down into his coffee before he finished it, draining the dark liquid from the mug.

Hannibal was smirking as he watched Will place the empty mug on the nightstand, and only when Will turned to face him again, did he speak,

"She had won something, it is certainly a victory to be the mother of the heir to the Verger fortune." he sounded amused. Will snorted and grinned,

"That's sort of what she said, 'he's the Verger heir'." he quoted her with a 'matter-of-fact- tone before he frowned again lightly, "It was almost a challenge as much as it was a proclamation, as if she'd been daring me to have an opinion." Will was amused as he shook his head, remembering how intensely Alana had stared at him when she'd told him _sternly_ that the child was hers.

"Perhaps she assumed you would point out how convenient her arrangement was, or the glaringly obvious fact that she'd likely used her psychiatric expertise to take advantage of and manipulate Margot and Mason's precarious relationship in her favor." Hannibal brought a hand up to idly run his fingers along his jaw line before he scratched lightly at his morning stubble.

It still felt like a rare sight, Hannibal doing such simply human things as fidgeting or moving idly. It was a sign that his guard was down, that his ironclad control over his person suit was relaxed in moments during which he didn't need to be alert or aware or in character for anyone. Will still remembered the first time he'd seen and heard Hannibal blowing his nose, it'd been _surreal_. But it wasn't any more, there'd been a fair amount of human behaviors Will had witnessed in the man since living with him, and each new one clicked neatly into place, automatically added to his 'Mind Palace Hannibal', the mental version of Hannibal that Will would recall and interact with for comfort should they ever be separated again for any reason.

"Freddy Lounds shares your opinion on that." Will grimaced at bringing up the red head. Hannibal raised an eyebrow in curiosity so he explained, "When I ran into her trespassing on one of Francis' crime scenes," they shared an unsurprised look over that detail, "among other…blunt observations that she shared with me, Freddy also mentioned that she found it convenient how Alana ended up rich in the end."

Hannibal shrugged facially, a subtle rising of his eyebrows and dismissive twist to his mouth,

"Miss Lounds was always rather good at making correct assumptions about things she could only guess at. That is the truth of her talent, regardless of how tactlessly she utilized it at every turn." he said with an obvious note of dislike in his voice that was always present when they talked about Freddy.

Will chuckled quietly, loath to agree out loud, even though he mentally conceded it was true. He realized then that he'd digressed from the original subject, so he brought the conversation back around to the point,

"I'm not saying I don't think Alana loves her son, because obviously she does," he tried to clarify, wetting his lips, "I just think that Margot is more likely to react…emotionally, whereas Alana is…she's-…"

"Calculated." Hannibal provided.

"Yes." Will agreed, nodding and shifting to face Hannibal bodily, "Alana is more likely to stop and think, even in the heat of the moment, if she gets a call to let her know that her son has been kidnapped, she could still remain level headed. She may even have contingency plans, and…and swat teams on speed dial," Will was shaking his head, stressing himself out, "she's been made wary and vindictive by circumstance, Hannibal and we need to be very _careful_." he sighed heavily and clenched his jaw, leaning back into the pillows again as he let himself slide down some, "At least…at least just until we have both Margot and Morgan and Alana realizes she's backed into a corner and that the only thing left to do…is to come crawling to us on her hands and knees," he mumbled and closed his eyes, "no room for tricks up her sleeves, nothing sharp hidden behind her back. Just her, accepting of her fate…with her head down, defeated." he sighed out, he was picturing it and he was aware that he sounded distant.

"Subjugated." Hannibal added quietly, his voice rough and pleased, and Will opened his eyes just as the older man shifted closer, leaning his weight over Will so that his one hand was pressing into the mattress at the side of Will's shoulder as he rested his weight half on top of Will's body and leaned down to kiss him.

Will's head was pressed back into the soft pillows under the intensity of Hannibal's lips against his own, the older man's tongue licking over the seam of Will's lips for a only a second before Will opened his mouth, letting Hannibal taste him and arching up against the older man, gripping handfuls of the back of his sweater to pull him closer. Hannibal kissed Will for a dizzying minute, his tongue and teeth and the deft application of both rendering Will unfocused on anything besides Hannibal's mouth. And Hannibal shifted above Will with familiar ease, his movements smooth and sure, a gentle rocking of his hips against Will's to illicit a soft moan and the impress of his weight above to pin Will down, sliding one of his legs between Will's to take his place there…all of his movements made with subtle dominance, so that Will was then supine beneath him, Hannibal settled between the languidly accommodating spread of his legs.

Will's erection from earlier came back with relish and he rolled his hips upward, pressing against Hannibal as the older man did the same, their clothed bodies pressed flush together, chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis. When Hannibal left off from Will's mouth, it was so he could balance his weight on one forearm and use his other hand to push Will's T-shirt up. Will helped it along, pulling it over his head and tossing it to the bottom of the bed before laying his head back on the pillows and exhaling a breathy moan as Hannibal went to work with his mouth, tongue and blunt nails on Will's smooth chest, down his sensitive sides and over his sensually rising and falling stomach.

With his hands in Hannibal's fine hair, his blood singing arousal in his veins, Will grinned,

"You like hearing…me talk…abo-…about killing her." he wet his lips, enjoying the way Hannibal tongued into his shallow navel and scraped the sharp edges of his teeth over sensitive skin. Will started slightly and clipped out a breathy 'fuck', when Hannibal made an open mouthed, teeth bared bite against the pale, smooth, soft skin of his side.

"You have no idea." Hannibal said gruffly against Will's skin as he started to push Will's pajama pants and underwear down off his hips...

* * *

 **A LARGE PORTION INCLUSIVE OF EMOTIONAL PLOT WAS REMOVED WITH THIS SEX SCENE, PLEASE VIEW ON AO3 FOR THE UNCENSORED UPLOAD**

* * *

 _Wednesday – 21 Sep 2022 – 4.35 PM_

With a sore ass, having swallowed two painkillers and having had two orgasms that made it entirely worth it, Will was justifiably exhausted by the time he'd crawled back into bed.

Before leaving the bathroom, they'd remained in the shower a while longer, rerunning the water while they'd lathered one another up with gel soap all over again, and they'd kissed each other so thoroughly throughout their rinse down that Will's lips burned and he was sure he'd swallowed a fair amount of water and soap in the interim.

After their shower though, when Will had just returned to bed and lied down, his hair wet and the towel still around his waist, Hannibal had groomed himself and dressed for the day, and he made no objections to Will not doing the same. In fact, he hadn't even bothered to stop Will from –rather quickly- dozing off.

Will hadn't intended to fall asleep though, so when he woke up several hours later to the afternoon sun streaming in through the windows and balcony doors, leaving warm streaks across his skin, he groaned quietly and buried his face into the pillows. He lay like that for a further minute, just getting his bearings and waiting out the drowsiness and once he felt awake enough, he sat up and adjusted the towel around his waist as he glanced around the bedroom.

The lingering and pleasant scent of Hannibal's cologne remained from when he'd dressed that morning, but if he'd been in the room again since, Will couldn't tell. He realized then that he'd been sleeping so dead-like, that he'd woken up in the exact same position he'd fallen asleep in. Leaning forward where he sat, Will rubbed his hands over his face and exhaled irritably when he thought about how much time he'd wasted sleeping.

Uncertain of the time exactly, he picked his phone up off his nightstand and unlocked it, checking the time, and then he groaned again and rubbed at his eyes when he saw how late it was.

They had so much to still discuss and sort out before he and Chiyoh went to Florence the next day, there was no time to be lazing around. It gave Will pause then, when it occurred to him that he probably wouldn't be able to just laze around again, not for a very long time, after they'd kidnapped Morgan Verger and killed Alana and Margot.

The reality of it hit him pretty hard, making his breath catch and he closed his eyes tightly, clenching his jaw as he acknowledged –with a pain in his chest- the fact that he and Hannibal would have to leave Spain…actually, they wouldn't ever even be able to return there, not even to pack.

It cut him deeply, knowing that he had to give up their home there, their dogs, their friends…

But he found he wasn't angry at Hannibal for it, for his never ending pursuit of Alana, because he'd known Hannibal would have found her eventually, it had been an inevitability. It had to happen.

He sighed tensely, thinking of how he would miss the view in Benidorm, and of how the meat in their fridges would spoil. And Will couldn't help getting angry at the idea of the police raiding their home, going through their things, taking everything apart.

He sat for a while, thinking about everything he'd be giving up, he and Hannibal, just so that Hannibal could keep his promise to Alana…who probably wouldn't even taste good considering what a bitter person she'd become. And when he thought himself in circles on the subject, in the end Will only saw one way for him to deal with the situation.

Glancing over first to make sure it was still there, Will leaned across the bed to the nightstand on Hannibal's side and with his fingers stretched out, he grabbed Hannibal's leather covered tablet.

Once he had it, Will adjusted himself so he was sitting back against the headboard, and he got comfortable before he unlocked the tablet and brought up the web browser…

* * *

 _Wednesday – 21 Sep 2022 – 5.18 PM_

When Will had finished what he was doing on the internet, he'd gotten out of bed…and made the bed –because Hannibal-, before he'd brushed his teeth and dressed. It'd taken a while longer than usual to get his hair into some sort of order after falling asleep with it wet, but he felt he'd managed pretty well by the time he left the room and made his way downstairs.

The house was quiet and downstairs was basked in afternoon light with a chilly breeze filtering in through the open windows, the weather had been made cool by the rainfall and it was pleasant and fresh. Enjoying the crispness in the air, Will wandered through the hall and into the kitchen, where he predictably found Hannibal. It was late enough that he figured the older man would already be done preparing dinner, so he –correctly- assumed that Hannibal would be working on dessert.

And Will was amused to find Hannibal looking unimpressed, dismissively setting a can of peaches down on the island counter, placing it separately from a spread of other ingredients. The older man glanced at Will and raised an eyebrow in greeting, before he returned to the chopping board set out and he began efficiently dicing up what Will identified with an inhale, as being fresh mint.

Will cocked an eyebrow at Hannibal's quick handed chopping as he walked over, coming to stand near the older man with at least two feet between them, just so that he wouldn't be in the way.

"Will." Hannibal verbally greeted, formal on the surface but his voice carrying a warm undertone.

Will raised his eyebrows and smiled slightly before he assessed the various cups of chopped up fresh fruits laid out among the other ingredients. He ventured a guess,

"Fruit salad for dessert?"

Hannibal tipped his head briefly in answer as he lifted the chopping board and deposited the finely chopped mint into a small mixing bowl with other stuff in it,

"A seasonal fruit salad." he specified and then started whisking the mint in with the ingredients already in the bowl, which took a professional half-minute before it was thoroughly mixed and Hannibal continued speaking, "It is meant to be a _fresh_ fruit salad-.."

"Ah," Will immediately caught on to the problem and chuckled softly, "hence the disregarded canned peaches." he nodded slowly, having sort of expected as much. Hannibal just shrugged in response, and it was so slight but such a mundane and human motion that Will never got tired of seeing it. He picked up the can of peaches then and looked over the label, "Why not just make something else?"

Hannibal was being careful and presentational as he added a select portion of the different fresh fruits into each of the three white ramekin dishes; strawberries, melon, cherries, mango, raspberries, etc. And Will supposed he'd just decided to veto the peaches altogether in the end.

Hannibal idly adjusted the bowls once he'd finished filling them,

"Because Chiyoh does not have a sweet tooth,"

"…shock and awe…" Will mumbled.

"and…she is partial to fresh fruit." Hannibal had only just faltered in his words…to smile at Will's comment.

Will was kind of stuck on Hannibal's words though, and he was glaring at Hannibal's dexterously working, elegant hands. He wanted to be upset, or jealous or whatever, about Hannibal making dessert to suit Chiyoh, but then he knew how Hannibal's sense of etiquette worked. They were guests in Chiyoh's home and also Hannibal liked everyone smiling at his dinners, so he would cater to everyone. And Will ate fruit, he ate any fruit, fresh or preserved, so it wasn't as if Hannibal was neglecting to consider him.

With that fact in mind, Will hooked his index finger under the easy open tab of the can and peeled the seal back, revealing bright, sweet peaches soaked in syrupy goodness.

Hannibal glanced at him and then went on to pour the mint and something or the other dressing over his pretty little fruit salad dishes. Will figured the syrup of the canned peaches would interfere with the taste of the dressing and that's why Hannibal was an unhappy cannibal.

Will had to hide his smile at his own stupid mental phrasing, doing so by turning away to retrieve a fork from the dish drying rack. When he turned back to face Hannibal again, he leaned his hip against the counter and stabbed a syrup soaked peach slice onto the tines of the fork before popping it into his mouth and chewing it with a light crunch.

Hannibal continued with what he was doing, the two of them standing in comfortable silence. And Will randomly found himself wondering whether Chiyoh was a cannibal, even just occasionally. Like, if Hannibal had to cook something using _long pig_ , would she eat it? He slowly chewed on another peach slice as he made a mental note to ask Hannibal about that at some point…and just then his other mental note of needing to ask Hannibal about Bedelia popped up-…

"Do you feel properly rested after sleeping?" Hannibal asked as he carried the fruit desserts to the fridge on a tray.

Will swallowed his mouthful of sweet peach and then licked his lips and smirked,

"Some…I definitely needed a nap after this morning." he answered, trying for a sexy voice and in his opinion, landing it. He watched Hannibal for a reaction as the older man came back over to the counter, but he was only smiling just slightly, and as he began to tidy up the few items of ingredients on the counter, it faded altogether,

"I'd rather have you properly rested for tomorrow, Will." he said evenly.

Will's smile faded too when he recognized the note of disapproval in Hannibal's tone, and it was because he didn't want Will to go with Chiyoh to Florence. He was being ridiculous though, Will honestly wasn't worried about being recognized, and besides,

"Would you stop? I'm not even going to be doing _anything_ except waiting in the car for Chiyoh." he reminded Hannibal dully and ate another peach.

They'd only hashed out some of the details over dinner the night before, a dinner during which Chiyoh had not been happy to find out that Will would be accompanying her. For all of her posturing though, she hadn't argued when Hannibal had made the decision.

Hannibal didn't respond to Will's remark, instead going about putting stuff away in the cupboards and then taking the few dishes over to the sink to wash them in continued silence. Will stabbed another peach slice with his fork and then paused before he could eat it, glancing at Hannibal and feeling frustrated but also guilty for being so dismissive of Hannibal's concern.

He wasn't going to let it get to him though, he was determined to go with Chiyoh, end of story. Sighing, Will decided to just ignore it and he walked over to stand beside Hannibal at the sink, leaning there while the older man manually washed the few dishes he'd made. With his eyes on Hannibal's hands as he washed a paring knife with a soapy sponge, Will bit a small piece of the peach slice off the fork before asking,

"Where is Chiyoh?"

Hannibal rinsed the knife off and placed it in the drying rack,

"She had an errand to run for me, something I required her to pick up before she returned. But she should be here shortly." he answered neutrally as he washed a bowl next.

Will nodded, vaguely curious about what errand Hannibal was referring to, but assuming he'd find out when Chiyoh got back, he let the subject rest and ate the rest of the peach slice as he glanced around the kitchen, looking out through the glass patio doors to the large side patio area and at the distant view of trees and green hills.

His thoughts drifted then to their home in Spain, and then to what he'd spent the last 45 minutes upstairs doing online. Will glanced at Hannibal as he considered whether or not he should bring it up right then, because he knew he had to talk to Hannibal about it, and before Chiyoh returned would be good, but it definitely had to be before tomorrow came. And Chiyoh would be back soon…

Will forked another peach slice just when Hannibal turned the faucet off and grabbed a dish cloth to dry his hands. Will watched as the older man turned to face him –eyes warm, multi tonal hair unstyled, soft and relaxed around his face- as he pulled his sweater sleeves down from his elbows, adjusting them neatly at his wrists. Will swallowed tensely then, chest warming with love and affection for Hannibal as it so often did, and he felt so unsure of how to phrase what he needed to say. So instead of talking, Will just lowered his eyes and raised the fork to his lips, taking the peach slice off the fork with his teeth.

Will didn't expect it when Hannibal, just a foot away, leaned in and bit into the other half of the peach slice still between his teeth, bringing their lips together briefly in a kiss before he drew away slightly so they could both chew and swallow. He didn't stop there though, stepping closer and Will smiled, humming softly when another lip to lip kiss was pressed to his mouth, syrupy sweet, and Hannibal raised one hand to hold the side of his face, caressing his thumb over Will's ear. Will initiated a third kiss then, and it was slightly sticky, languid and deep.

Hannibal leaned his other hand on the counter beside them, and after placing the can with the fork in it on the counter surface, Will circled both of his arms around Hannibal's waist and tilted his head into the kiss as the older man turned them so Will's lower back was against the high counter. Hannibal proceeded to kiss Will with a particular sort of demand as he leaned against him, there was aggression in the way he tongued deeply into Will's mouth, but also something sentimental, something heartfelt, and with the way he'd trapped Will there against his body, it felt protective too.

Through his empathy, Will could vaguely ascertain that Hannibal was worried…and maybe even feeling insecure.

Because he loved Will in whatever way he was capable of and he was still uncertain of Will's intentions toward the plan, still not fully believing that Will was going to stay with him and stand by him.

Will frowned into the kiss, feeling sad and annoyed with Hannibal when he picked up on those feelings. And wanting to reassure the older man, Will drew back from the kiss and said what he'd initially wanted to,

"We won't be able to go back to Spain." he breathed out against Hannibal's lips before slowly looking into his eyes, green-blue meeting day lit auburn, "The second the word gets out that Alana and Margot are missing, whether or not you're suspected to be involved, your face will be all over the news in Europe…in the papers, on the internet." Will took a shaken breath as the reality of it again flooded in and unsettled his sense of calm. He drew his arms back so that his hands were clutching the sides of Hannibal's gray V-neck sweater, "We'll have to go into hiding, Hannibal."

It was the truth, there'd be no avoiding it. Alana Bloom as well as the Verger name had both at one point been closely and negatively associated with Hannibal after he'd been revealed to be the Chesapeake Ripper, and any smart reporter, journalist or news blogger would use the past information about Hannibal to boost interest in a story about the missing Verger's. Hell, Freddy Lounds would probably do an exposé and rehash every gory and ugly detail on Hannibal the Cannibal for her American and online public within a few hours of a missing persons report going out.

Hannibal kept his eyes on Will's for a moment, his gaze solemn, intense and considering, and then he inhaled softly and tracked his eyes over Will's face slowly, his thumb continually stroking Will's ear,

"That is a likely outcome, yes." he acknowledged.

And Will clearly heard the note of tension in his voice, because right then, _again_ , Hannibal was expecting him to try and talk him out of going after Alana, he expected Will to make excuses, to back-peddle, to let him down.

But Will had no intention of doing that, and when he smiled, intimate and lovingly at Hannibal, he made sure his sincerity was blatant on his face and he saw a hint of wonder in Hannibal's eyes even before he spoke,

"So, I was thinking it'd be nice to live in Argentina, maybe in Mar del Plata, or somewhere in Buenos Aires." Will suggested seriously and the intensity of Hannibal's stare increased, but in a good way, "I was Googling some places after I woke up, you know…places easy to get lost in, places that don't care about European serial killers and where people still speak Spanish so I won't have to learn another language." he raised an eyebrow, because he'd just mastered Spanish and that had been so fucking hard.

Hannibal chuckled, deep and fond, smiling at Will with that attractive curve to his lips and a hint of his teeth, and then he slowly wet his lips and regarded Will steadily, eye to eye,

"You'd be fine with that?"

Will nodded lightly and inhaled deeply, his senses filling with the scent of Hannibal, and God, the man smelled so fucking good. He absently pressed the length of his front against Hannibal, who was already as close as possible, firm and warm and intoxicating and right _there_ , but all the same, Hannibal leaned his weight just a little more against Will, obliging his unspoken needs…always obliging Will in every way that he could.

Will clutched Hannibal's sweater tighter,

"Would you prefer somewhere colder?" he asked curiously with a raised eyebrow, remembering the bitter winters of Maryland and Virginia with a skeptical look.

"No…" Hannibal's smile lingered as he shook his head, "…no, Will, I meant, would you be fine with giving up our lives and our home in Spain?"

And while that was the question voiced, it was not the underlying one actually asked.

Will knew Hannibal wasn't concerned with whether he would give up Spain for him, the real question, the next test, was whether Will was willing to give that all up…in order for Hannibal to kill Alana.

Will raised his eyebrows, choosing to give his answer in the simplest way possible,

"Well, I would like to keep my dogs, but otherwise…" he shrugged, because really, as long as he was with Hannibal, Will was fine with living anywhere. He loved it in Spain, they'd had three great years there, just as they would go on to have several great years somewhere, anywhere else, _together_.

Hannibal's gaze was rich with affection by that point and Will watched him swallow slowly, his adams apple bobbing, his throat clicking softly. Whatever emotions he felt in whatever way he felt them were surfacing enough that Will could feel them, and they were a heady mixture of danger and desire and awe and desperation and happiness…

Will was absolutely affected by it and he smiled tremulously, a lump of convoluted and overwhelming emotions, need and happiness and _rightness_ , all for Hannibal forming sorely in his throat. Will raised one hand to Hannibal's face, caressing it slowly over Hannibal's cheek and into his soft hair, before he held the back of the older man's head and pulled him into a slow, open-mouthed kiss, both of them exhaling shakily in between the gentle parting and closing motions of their warm mouths and lapping tongues.

Hannibal pressed deeper into the kiss as his hand slid from Will's face to the front of his throat, not squeezing but settling firmly there as Hannibal arrested control of the kiss from him, turning it less tender and more possessive. Will didn't mind at all and he curled his fingers into a tight fist in Hannibal's hair, obligingly parting his mouth wide and accommodatingly for each jaw clicking kiss Hannibal sought from him.

Will's jeans were just starting to feel too constricting when they heard the sound of the front door opening and closing, but there was no rush to end the kiss. Hannibal drew back slowly from sucking on Will's tongue, and he pressed a sweet follow up kiss to the corner of Will's swollen mouth before inhaling deeply. Will's eyes were still closed, his breathing still unsteady when Hannibal said quietly,

"It may not come to that…" and Will frowned then - because how could it not?-, "…but should it, I promise you that Remy and Heller will be with us wherever in the world we decide to settle." his voice was low and intimate and sincere.

Will opened his eyes and looked into Hannibal's, a smile stealing across his face at the promise made, but before he could ask or say anything, Chiyoh interrupted from the kitchen archway,

"You have a room." she informed them blandly, looking oddly normal in a pair of blue jeans, white Lacoste sneakers and a loose fitting gray crepe blouse, with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. She looked like a soccer mom. Will figured it was probably her incognito look…and decided that it definitely creeped him out.

She spared them a once over where they still stood close together against her kitchen counter, and Hannibal smiled at her like an older brother would when intentionally trying to annoy his sister. Chiyoh did not look impressed with him for it, she appeared very annoyed…much like a fed up sister would mind you. Will could almost swear she wanted to roll her eyes, but she ultimately refrained, simply raising the thin A4 envelope she was carrying for them to see,

"We should talk." she was looking at Hannibal when she spoke.

Hannibal stepped back then but remained close beside Will as he nodded to her,

"Certainly, after dinner."

Well, of course.

* * *

 _Wednesday – 21 Sep 2022 – 7.47 PM_

After a three course dinner followed by dessert which, for a fruit salad, was far too delicious, the table was cleared. But they returned to it afterward so they could discuss the plan. Hannibal and Chiyoh were drinking more wine, Will a double shot of whiskey, and Chiyoh and Will sat across from one another while Hannibal sat at the head of the table.

Chiyoh had certainly enjoyed the dinner and dessert, which had all been made with her –and Will- in mind and it looked pretty weird when she'd smiled at Hannibal in appreciation. Honestly, more weird than pretty. She'd thanked Hannibal for his consideration in her own way, meaning it had been a wordless exchange between the two of them. But still, Will got the gist of it.

Presently, Hannibal had just opened the envelope Chiyoh had brought back with her and he was removing several sheets of paper from inside. Some of the pages had handwritten information on them in a mostly legible scrawl.

Chiyoh explained when Will frowned at the pages skeptically,

"The source you had me contact, told me that the information you needed was very difficult to obtain, so he did not have time to type the majority of it out. He did say that the official medical documents are printed."

Hannibal nodded, seemingly fine with that as his eyes skimmed over whatever was written on the first few pages,

"He was duly compensated for the risk." he mumbled absently.

"More than." Chiyoh sounded displeased about whatever amount of money had been forked out.

Will glanced between them as she and Hannibal exchanged a look, and then Hannibal set the papers down and picked his wine glass up to take a sip. He licked the red liquid from his lips afterward and then explained seriously,

"This information is necessary," he looked down at the papers, "it changes mine's and Will's circumstances in this matter completely."

Will and Chiyoh spoke at the same time,

"It does?" Will.

"How?" Chiyoh.

"Firstly…" Hannibal looked at Chiyoh, "…you are absolutely confident you will be able to efficiently take Morgan Verger from the school without being seen?"

She nodded,

"Yes."

"Can you do it as close as possible to the time when the boy's school will be let out?"

Chiyoh took a moment to consider, glancing at Will, at Hannibal and then at her wine glass before she nodded again,

"Yes, that should be fine."

"Good, secondly, do you have disposable phones?"

She shook her head,

"No, it is difficult to acquire such a thing in Italy. But I have one phone that we will use for any calls that need to be made. I had the number made untraceable a while ago." she informed them, speaking in her slow, accented yet articulate way. Hannibal accepted that with a nod and went on,

"You have an untraceable vehicle?"

"Yes."

"And have you secured the locations I requested?"

"Yes."

Will sighed shortly, wondering when the fuck Hannibal and Chiyoh had talked about all that extra stuff, but he said nothing and just sipped his whiskey.

Hannibal looked at him for a moment then, before he took a breath and leaned back in his chair,

"With this new information, there will be a change in plans…this is how we will proceed tomorrow…"


	3. It's Worth All Wounds, It Must Be

\- **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT CERTAIN READERS MAY FIND UPSETTING. Please refer to the tags (on A03) Sensitive readers tread lightly.**

\- This chapter and the next to be posted are both long, just a heads up.  
\- This is not beta'd, my apologies for any mistakes.

* * *

Everything that is beautiful and noble is the product of reason and calculation.

-Charles Baudelaire

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 2.03 AM_

Many hours later, Will found he couldn't sleep.

He was too wired, his mind too busy processing.

The plan seemed fairly simple, straightforward too, but whether it worked out hinged a lot on his and Hannibal's previous relationships with Alana and Margot and the dynamic they had all once had. The mental manipulations and mind games they'd all played once upon a time, the influences and wounds they'd dealt each other, it would all factor in…and little Morgan Verger was unfortunately just caught in the crossfire.

That was the only detail of the plan that Hannibal hadn't elaborated on much; was what would become of Morgan once his parents were dead. And Will doubted Hannibal cared, because why would he? It made Will sick to think about, but he knew Morgan's immediate future would consist of some form of brainwashing, memory wiping so he'd have no idea who he was or who his parents had been. And thereafter Hannibal likely planned to leave the boy some place far outside of Italy, maybe even outside of Europe, in an orphanage or something, where he'd be nameless and lost, abandoned…and from there, whatever became of the sole surviving Verger would not be Hannibal's, or rather, **his** and Hannibal's problem.

It was horrible and beyond cruel, and something that Will would probably take a few years to let go of –if he ever could-, but there was no other way to deal with the child aside from killing him too. And Will _knew_ sparing Alana and Margot was not an option, he _knew_ that if he even so much as suggested it, it would be the equivalent of him driving a knife into Hannibal's back and _twisting_. He could not go back on his word or his choice, and he didn't even want to. If only Morgan hadn't been in the picture, Will knew he wouldn't be losing sleep right then, but Morgan was an issue, and Hannibal would kill the boy's parents…

…and again, Will was reminded of the man he'd chosen to be with, of the **monster** he'd fallen in love with, and again…Will knew he didn't regret his choice for a second.

So he'd have to settle for Morgan Verger at least _living_ through it, because it would be some small consolation.

Will was afraid for him in that too though, because he was only five years old and while Will could hope he'd end up in a good home, there was always the chance that he wouldn't, and that whoever would be appointed his guardian would end up neglecting somehow, or worse, _abusing_ him, and if not physically, then emotionally or mentally. And maybe it'd break him, but maybe it wouldn't…after all, being born with the genes of Mason Verger was a potentially very bad thing and without the right guidance, with suffering and cruelty, if Morgan was a psychopath, his pathological tendencies would be unintentionally sublimated through mistreatment.

Will took a deep breath and closed his burning, sandy eyes so he could take a break from staring at the slanting wooden beamed ceiling through the moderate dark of the room.

' _Maybe once Alana and Margot are taken care of, I'll talk to him about options for Morgan…there has to be another way..._ ' Will thought with a pinch of desperation, and then he swallowed lightly and frowned when it occurred to him that, _'…maybe it won't even come to that, maybe something goes wrong and I get arrested tomorrow, or gunned down…'_ his eyes fluttered open and his breath quickened as that very real possibility sunk in.

Because Hannibal's plan had been altered to involve Will far more than it had before, and while Will knew it was because Hannibal was extending him the trust he wanted, he realized just then that he was being put at risk...something which Hannibal had curiously avoided bringing up, not at all, even when they'd been alone, which struck Will as odd. And surely Hannibal realized that detail, it was so fucking obvious, how could he not? So why hadn't he said anything, unless…maybe it was his intention…?

It was entirely possible -with Hannibal _anything_ was possible- that the new plan was also a _test_ of Will's loyalty, because aside from being at risk, the plan would also put Will in the perfect position to either run away from, or to betray Hannibal. And of course Will would do neither of those things, but Hannibal didn't fully believe that.

Frowning deeper and seeing no reason why he shouldn't just ask, Will parted his dry lips,

"Hannibal?" he said in a quiet but audible voice.

There was a beat of silence before Hannibal, who was asleep and facing away from Will, shifted and turned his head slightly off his pillow,

"Will?" he questioned, his voice laced with the depth of sleep. He'd probably subconsciously heard Will say his name and was checking to see if Will had actually said it. He was a light sleeper that way.

Will sighed,

"Sorry to wake you." he said sincerely, after all, Hannibal hadn't had nearly as much sleep as he had.

Hannibal inhaled sleepily and then rolled onto his back, glancing at Will,

"It's fine," he mumbled gruffly and then sniffed idly, pressing his fingers into his eyes briefly, "are you alright?"

Will swallowed softly and continued to stare up at the ceiling as he spoke,

"We never talked about…what happens if I, if something goes wrong…and I get apprehended."

There was silence for a whole minute before he heard Hannibal shift, turning his head against the pillow so that he was looking at Will, and Will heard his throat click as he swallowed tensely.

"You won't-…"

"I might." Will said realistically, voice soft. He wasn't looking to upset Hannibal, he just needed to know the older man's reasoning, his intentions, his expectations.

They were both silent for a long time then, at least five minutes, before Hannibal shifted again, moving nearer to Will on the bed so he was lying on his side and he rested his weight on his elbow at the side of Will's head, settling that way and looking down at Will. He looked up at Hannibal then, meeting his gaze and holding it with a slight frown on his face. Hannibal wet his lips and he stalled, taking a breath before he spoke with a surprisingly distinct vulnerability in his voice,

"I didn't want to think of that as being a possibility."

Will stopped breathing for a second at those honest words, and he managed a wavy smile as he took a slow breath, feeling relief and understanding wash over him.

 _Obviously_ Hannibal knew it was a risk for Will, he knew what could happen, that they could end up separated or that Will could end up dead. And while the monster in Hannibal would take the chance to achieve his end goal, the man was afraid to face what he was risking by sending Will into harms way. So the responsibility fell to Will to force Hannibal to face reality, because Will needed to know how to proceed if things went bad.

Hannibal needed to guide him in this.

He looked up into Hannibal's shadowed-black eyes and swallowed tensely before he spoke,

"You should know better, Hannibal." he breathed out, taking a second to think of the best way to get through to the older man, before settling on something sorely familiar that would evoke the right reaction, "You can't let fear…and denial…" Will's smile faded as he raised a hand and trailed his fingers over the front of Hannibal's neck, "…nor love," he chose to use the word 'love' that time on purpose because it would hold the most weight, "keep you from thinking."

He immediately saw just how his words, so similar and yet different to the words Hannibal had once spoken to him in front of the Primavera, affected the older man. Hannibal's guard came down briefly, and in those few close seconds, several deep emotions of light and dark and darkest, of love and violence and danger, flashed in his liquid dark eyes. Will watched raptly, as he witnessed the monster battling the man to make that final decision of what action to take...of just what he would do about the possibility of Will being taken into police custody.

Hannibal probably hadn't expected Will to remind him that sometimes…he needed to think like a monster.

And Will's words had struck just the right cord to bring the monster to the surface, because Hannibal's eyes darkened and his gaze turned calculating for several quiet breaths between them before the older man settled on a decision, his expression hardening, jaw ticking. And when he snatched Will's wrist in a harsh grip, removing Will's hand from his neck slowly and squeezing so tightly that Will clenched his teeth and hissed softly, Hannibal's eyes were shark-like, his expression darkly resolute.

Will didn't understand right away, he knew Hannibal was giving him his answer, but he couldn't guess what it was. With his fingertips quickly going numb, Will looked at Hannibal with a calm expression, and a slight frown in silent question as to what he was doing.

It became even more confusing, when to contradict the hand bruising Will's wrist and the absence of soul in the older man's eyes, Hannibal's next words were still laced with warmth and vulnerability when he spoke,

"Then you will play the victim." he said almost lovingly and Will frowned deeply,

"What?" he breathed out quietly. But his pulse quickened, because even as he asked for clarification, the empathic part of him was already beginning to realize, to understand the barely there emotions of anxiety and remorse bleeding through Hannibal's outer resolve.

Hannibal moved surely then, forcing Will's arm down and pinning his hand at the side of his head as the older man reared up and again contradictorily, he _gently_ shifted to settle himself between Will's legs, which Will parted for the older man even as he stared up at Hannibal with only fragments of understanding and quickened breaths of uncertainty.

Hannibal had shut him out completely now, he wouldn't find an explanation with his empathy.

Hannibal needed to _speak_. Will wanted to _understand_.

He was losing feeling in his pinned hand when Hannibal seized his other wrist and pinned that hand as well,

"Induced cognitive impairment." Hannibal said quietly then, his tone was tender as he pinned both of Will's wrists painfully underneath one of his own and then yanked the pillow out from under Will's head with the other. Will let out a short, tight breath as his head fell back onto the mattress and Hannibal added softly, "Mental coercion and duress."

Will kept his clear green-blue eyes on Hannibal's inky black as the older man's free hand slid gently over the front of his neck, "Any and all maladaptive treatments, mental and emotional…" Hannibal whispered as he tightened his hand around Will's throat, but mostly just dug his fingers in, as if his intent was to leave bruises while not really choking, "…physical." he then pressed harder and shifted his hand against the front of Will's throat tightly, to chafe, undoubtedly to leave a hint of reddened strangulation burns.

Will made a strained breathing sound turned choked cough from the sudden and uncomfortable restriction against his windpipe and he grimaced at the burn that followed…and then Hannibal removed his hand completely and leaned down to kiss over his neck. Will gasped shortly for air, followed by a broken groan as he pressed his head back into the mattress to accommodate Hannibal's sensual mouthing at his throat. He was still somewhat confused, but was slowly becoming aroused even in his uncertainty of Hannibal's touches.

He turned his face into Hannibal's hair as the older man sucked softly at his neck and he said Hannibal's name very quietly, because he didn't understand and because he couldn't feel his fingers. Hannibal just went on,

"Stockholm…syndrome," he said against Will's skin gruffly, "drug induced…hazes, psychic…driving." he was sucking more aggressively at Will's neck between words, leaving marks, as his free hand wound into Will's hair and Hannibal pressed his hips lightly between Will's legs.

Will became aware then that Hannibal was **not** aroused…and he felt tension he hadn't been aware he'd been experiencing uncoil throughout his body. He hadn't been sure before, but Hannibal's flaccidity was proof that the older man did not derive pleasure from hurting him. Even though Will would allow it, would probably even enjoy it on some fucked up level, he knew now that Hannibal wouldn't, not when it was just for the sake of hurting to hurt, like right then…

…when Hannibal was doing it to make Will a victim.

And with the confusion of whether Hannibal wanted sex for pleasure removed from the equation, Will saw it clearly now, exactly what Hannibal was saying, exactly what he intended to do…and he resigned himself to it.

Hannibal released Will's wrists, the bruises starkly made and throbbing sore, skin tender…and then Hannibal ducked his face against the side of Will's and went on to make them elsewhere, in all the questionable places, all the intimate places. And his touch was distinctively rough and forceful in what followed, his hands gripping and pressing and pinching sorely over Will's body with marking purpose, leaving what would be dark ugly bruises, nail marks and blood clots on Will's forearms, shoulders, chest, sides, stomach, his hips and thighs and ankles.

And Will struggled between biting back groans and curses of pain and keeping his moans to pleasured hitches in his breathing, as the 'abusive' touches were actively contradicted by the slow buildup of sexual tension and arousal where Hannibal had long begun rolling his hips into Will's to create pleasurable friction between them…also with purpose.

And some time later, after long minutes of painful touches and enjoyable friction, when they were both fully erect inside their pajamas and Will had purple-blue and red marks blossoming all over his body, only then did Hannibal turn his attention to Will's mouth. But it wasn't to kiss, instead Hannibal immediately went to work on leaving sucking and teeth point bruises on Will's soft parted lips, and then even on Will's chin and jaw, Hannibal's mouth relentless in his intent to blemish.

Will flinched and hissed softly, frowning at the ache and sting of it, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his mouth when Hannibal's sharp teeth cut the inside of his top lip. Will remained as quiet as he could though, through all of it he managed his noises as he held onto Hannibal, his shaking hands clutching at the older man's upper arms. But even as it hurt, he was hard sure as sin between his legs, his body running hot everywhere Hannibal had bruised, sweat sheening his skin in the closest places where their bodies touched.

When Hannibal ended his assault on Will's mouth, he looked down into Will's face and stilled, breathing deeply and tensely. He was tracking his stygian eyes over Will's face, and Will remained still and pliant beneath him, just as Hannibal needed him to, letting his hands slip from Hannibal's arms to settle at the sides of his head as his neck remained bared and his legs parted wide. But where his body was completely submissive, his eyes were clear with acceptance and understanding.

Hannibal swallowed tensely and his eyes remained lightless while his voice wavered ever so slightly,

"You will present to them with a mélange of psychological and physical traumas, so that they will see you as being broken in mind…and body." his voice lowered, becoming strained and Will clenched his jaw against the indignity he felt at the lies he might have to tell, "Let them believe that I forced you in every way, that I threatened you and used you, demeaned you and fostered your dependency on me… _make_ them believe I abused you, Will, in mind and body." he said quietly and then kissed Will's lips lightly before he drew back and asked with visible discomfort, "Permit me?"

Will wet his lips slowly as Hannibal's words sunk in, and at the older man's request for permission, he swallowed tensely and drew his legs up at Hannibal's sides, kicking the duvet off their bodies before he nodded, consenting to what Hannibal was asking to do.

Abuse of the mind would be Will's duty to fake…but abuse of the body would require physical evidence.

Hannibal stared down at him for a moment and then he nodded and Will accommodated Hannibal as the older man shifted so he could push Will's pajama pants and underwear off his narrow hips and down the length of his legs. And when Will was bare, he raised his legs again, bent at the knees and spread.

He was already sore from the last few days and he knew what Hannibal was going to do would hurt. But the intention behind it was for more than just a cover story. In Hannibal's very first words about Will playing the victim, Hannibal –monster and man- had made the decision to give Will a chance at being free in the end. So that if Hannibal was caught, Will wouldn't be locked up as well, or if only Will was caught, then he would be let off his charges and be given freedom.

Freedom he'd use, either way, in order to be with Hannibal again.

That was the design, and it was Will's choice to accept it…to bear the creation of it.

And it was just in case, but there was no room for taking chances.

Hannibal leaned his weight on his left forearm at the side of Will's head and after a brief and gentle kiss, the older man shifted above Will, reaching down between them. Hannibal pushed his own pajama pants down and then brought his hand up and Will watched as he spat into his palm before lowering his hand between their bodies again. Hannibal took himself in hand then and after a moment, in which Will knew Hannibal was making himself cursorily wet with the spit, he aligned himself to penetrate Will…and Will leaned up and kissed him, dreading what was to come.

Hannibal pressed into the kiss and kept their mouths sealed together in order to muffle the sharp, pained sound Will made when he rocked his hips forward and forced himself inside…

* * *

It didn't last very long.

* * *

 _Hannibal had pushed into him roughly and then he'd stilled tensely, had separated from the kiss with a shaken exhale before he'd whispered something in Lithuanian against Will's lips, something that had sounded desperate and apologetic and emotional._

 _Will had swallowed a whimper, his eyes clenched tightly shut._

 _Hannibal had then braced himself on his arm beside Will's head and had spoken in a strained whisper, asking him to 'try not to scream', right before he'd covered Will's mouth firmly with his other hand._

 _Will had breathed shakily and harshly through his nose, opened his eyes to look at Hannibal and after a beat of tension he'd nodded jerkily, and then Hannibal had closed his eyes and ducked his head._

 _Following that, Hannibal had thrust in seven –Will had counted- times, each one excruciating, searing, abrupt and forceful. And Will had made terrible, barely controlled, broken and muffled cries of pain against the warm palm of Hannibal's hand, while Hannibal had shuddered bodily above him, breathing rigidly and strained…_

… _until he'd just stopped and pulled out, his body taut with anxiety._

 _Will sensed anger and revulsion and remorse. And Will felt pain, pain, pain._

 _There would be blood on the sheets…of that Will had no doubt._

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 2.31 AM_

Will had tears lining his eyes, his breathing harsh and uneven, when Hannibal's hand slipped away from his mouth and the older man proceeded to kiss the white and red indents he'd left over Will's face. Hannibal was breathing heavily as well and yes, he was still shaking, and Will noticed then that Hannibal's penis was limp between them. Will too, had gone flaccid immediately after the first thrust.

It had been a terrible thing for both of them to experience, for different reasons, but still.

Carefully, Hannibal shifted and then adjusted their bodies so that they were on their sides and facing each other. He held Will close…he didn't seem to want to let go. And Will was fine with that because he was trembling quite badly himself and was in a substantial amount of pain, and he wanted Hannibal to hold him through it, until the involuntary quaking stopped and his breathing settled and his eyes dried up.

So they pressed close and lay uncovered, Will all wrapped up in Hannibal's arms and legs, the only difference from the usual being that Hannibal's face was pressed against the front of Will's throat. The older man was painfully tense, radiating apology and regret that was saturating Will's empathy and making his throat and chest sore with the added emotions.

It was an unexpected way through which he gleaned just that much more of what Hannibal actually felt for him.

Hannibal wasn't a man of regret. But in this…he'd been hurt deeply just by hurting Will, and he regretted it.

Will was absently caressing circles on Hannibal's back with his fingers, and he was startled lightly from his thoughts when the older man spoke against his neck,

"I wanted to avoid this course of action…" Hannibal said quietly, "…it's why I didn't want you to go with Chiyoh." his voice was strained and his tone inundated with a wealth of remorse that Will felt through his empathic acuity.

His words also revealed to Will that Hannibal had been considering what might happen if Will was apprehended, and what they'd just done had obviously been the best countermeasure, as it was something that would probably be believed easily with sufficient evidence, even if not expected.

Will would be deemed the victim of a psychopathic, serial killer, sadist, cannibal who liked to torture people's minds and bodies. And in that context, the sexual abuse angle was not an unlikely leap for a psychopath, especially considering Hannibal and Will's well-known complicated, amorphous quasi-romantic beginnings.

Yeah, people would eat it up. They'd fall for it hook, line and sinker…and Hannibal would be considered a rapist on top of everything else.

Will grimaced bitterly at the thought, and even though his bruised lips hurt, he tilted his head slightly to press a kiss to Hannibal's temple,

"I'm fine." he whispered and then added with raw honesty, "I'm doing this for us. If they get me, I'll make them believe it…" he waited as Hannibal shifted, raising his head so they were looking at one another and Will lied his head on the pillow so his curls fell over one another as he managed a smile for Hannibal, "…and when they let me go, I'll come right back to you, I swear." he said with a fresh sheen of wetness in his eyes.

They were not tears of sadness then, and nor was the wetness gathering in Hannibal's eyes.

The older man swallowed with a soft click and parted his lips,

"Where shall I wait for you?" he asked.

Will raised his eyebrows, sighing sleepily,

"How about…at the Vila Galé Hotel in _Lagos_?" he suggested, because that was the hotel they'd been staying in the first night Will had let Hannibal kiss him.

Hannibal nodded, smiling very slightly and when he parted his lips again to speak he tracked his eyes over Will's face,

" _Gražus berniukas_ , can you forgive me?" he raised a hand, bringing it close to Will's hair and hesitating a moment before sinking his fingers into the soft, damp curls. Will's eyes slid closed under the caress of Hannibal's hand and he curled down a little closer to the older man, pressing his face against Hannibal's throat as he usually did and taking in a sleepy breath,

"There's nothing to forgive." he whispered.

And despite the pain he was in, he fell asleep within minutes.

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 9.26 AM_

Will knew Hannibal probably hadn't thought it was best, but he'd left Will to sleep anyway.

And when morning came and Will found himself sore enough –all over- that it made him whimper pathetically when he moved, breath hitching as he grimaced and tried to sit up in bed, Hannibal was right there, prepared to deal with the aftermath and quietly instructing him to lie down.

Hannibal had been waiting for him to wake up and after handing Will two Tramadol tablets and a glass of water, having procured his personal medical bag beforehand, Hannibal set it on the bed and rather clinically, he asked Will to allow him first, before he proceeded to examine the worst of the damage.

Will was leaning back low against the pillows and he sat quietly, blushing just slightly throughout the process and when Hannibal was done and the room was filled with the scent of antiseptic, Hannibal disposed of the cleaning gauze and used swab sticks and then he removed his latex gloves with a snap.

When he started packing his bag up and didn't say anything, Will prompted quietly,

"And?" he drew his legs together with a wince, closing and lowering them before pulling the folded back comforter up to cover himself.

Hannibal's jaw worked,

"It'll do." he said sounding displeased, obviously still unhappy with himself over the whole thing.

Will pursed his lips and frowned,

"What does that mean?"

"That the damage is sufficiently convincing." Hannibal answered shortly, tensely.

Will sighed softly, tracking his eyes over Hannibal's obviously tense form. He figured the older man didn't want to talk about it, but while Will hadn't wanted to look at the damage himself, he did want to **know**.

"Hannibal." he said quietly and when the older man looked at him, he raised his eyebrows slightly.

Hannibal paused in packing his bag up and swallowed thickly before he answered properly,

"The majority of the injuries are external. There is considerable surface bruising from the…applied force," he clenched his jaw, taking a breath before continuing in a quieter voice, "as well as tearing, but…internally there is mostly just swelling." he finished.

Will was certain that the explanation could have been far more comprehensive than that, but he wouldn't insist that Hannibal went into detail, instead he softly admitted,

"I guess it feels much worse than it is."

Hannibal paused after clipping his bag shut and he closed his eyes briefly, opening them again as he spoke gruffly,

"I kept my movements concise but as forceful as possible, with the intention of leaving visible but shallow damage. However, the pain was unavoidable." he said as steadily as he could with apology and shame radiating off of him.

Will backed off then, unused to seeing Hannibal so emotionally upset about anything. He just remained relaxed and silent as Hannibal moved around, setting his medical case on the dresser and retrieving something he'd set there earlier before he came back over to Will and stopped at the bedside, holding a small box and a pill container.

"You will have to apply the ointment after you've showered, there is a box of latex gloves on the dresser, or if you'd prefer, I will do it for you." Hannibal explained clinically as he set a box of antibiotic ointment on the nightstand, "And the Tramadol can be taken every six to seven hours, two tablets." he set the pill container down next and tapped it once before he looked at Will.

Will had been watching him the entire time and he smiled sorely when Hannibal's eyes met his own,

"Thank you." Will said sincerely and he reached out for Hannibal's nearest hand, taking it in his own. Hannibal squeezed his hand lightly, his eyes lingering on Will's bruised wrist and forearm before he leaned down. Will was hoping for a proper kiss as the older man leaned over him, but Hannibal only pressed a gentle touch of his lips to the side of Will's bruised mouth before he stood up straight again and walked away,

"I'll bring you breakfast shortly." was all he said before he left the bedroom.

Will just frowned and stared at the door after him.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Hannibal returned with a strong cup of coffee and breakfast on a tray for Will.

Hannibal let him know there was no rush to get ready since they would all be leaving later in the day, because Morgan's school only let out at 2 PM. So Will ate breakfast in bed, the Tramadol already taking effect and enabling him to sit up against the pillows while he ate. Hannibal sat on the chair beside the balcony doors, looking somber and unrested as he sipped from his own coffee. They didn't speak and it made Will feel anxious.

By the time Will was done eating, the medication had numbed the worst of the pain and he felt much better. Hannibal suggested a shower then, and since the older man hadn't showered yet for the day, Will asked Hannibal to join him. Hannibal agreed to, but sent Will ahead first so he could take the dishes downstairs and change the bedding first.

After Hannibal left the bedroom with the tray, Will stripped off his T-shirt –which was all he'd been wearing- and he intentionally avoided looking at his naked reflection in any of the mirrors as he went into the bathroom and started the water running.

He was in the shower for ten minutes, having been soaking under the hot water, when Hannibal finally joined him. And the twenty five minutes that followed was both comforting and emotional for them, because even though Hannibal had reeled in the excess of his emotions, Will could still read the subtle hints that slipped through, visible in his eyes, felt in his tender and hesitant touches, and it all affected Will's own feelings.

And one thing was absolutely obvious to Will as Hannibal stood under the running, comfortably hot water with him, slowly and so very carefully trailing his soap silky hands and a loofah over the expanse of Will's blemished skin, was that looking at the damage he'd done upset him deeply. And as a result, he could barely keep his hands from shaking –in anger?- as he washed Will's smooth skin and caressed the white soap lather over his well-muscled upper body and his narrow hips, along and in between his lean legs.

Hannibal kept his eyes averted the entire time and Will hated it, because he didn't know how to help Hannibal feel better, and there was no painkiller for the kind of hurt Hannibal was experiencing, but Will wished there was.

All he could think to do was stay close to the older man and allow Hannibal to dote on him as they showered. Will leaned into his touches and hummed softly in appreciation as Hannibal washed his body, and then his hair, as he massaged Will's scalp slowly and relaxingly, molding his curls with long, slender fingers.

He nuzzled and kissed Hannibal's shoulder and neck when they were facing one another, pressed close and smoothed his hands down Hannibal's wet, muscled back. And he whispered a vulnerable 'I love you' when Hannibal washed him intimately, receiving a lingering kiss to his forehead in response. And when Hannibal shut the water off and retrieved a towel for Will, using it to gently dab Will's skin dry, he smiled and mumbled his thanks, before Hannibal let him wrap the towel around his waist.

Will left the shower then, while Hannibal returned to it, and after brushing his teeth he left the bathroom altogether. In the bedroom, he did as directed with a latex glove and the ointment before disposing of the glove the way he'd seen Hannibal do, and then he began dressing. As he was fastening his jeans on his –bruised- hips, Will glanced toward the bathroom because he heard a muffled noise, but when nothing further followed the sound, he dismissed it and continued getting dressed. He chose to wear dark colors that day, a pair of black jeans and a charcoal gray long sleeve Henley shirt, since the weather was fairly cool, and he'd wear his black leather chukka boots with it.

He was fully dressed, sitting at the foot of the bed and pulling his socks on, when Hannibal exited the bathroom with a towel wrapped low on his waist. Will glanced at him as the older man walked to the wardrobe that they'd unpacked their clothes into, and he saw the tension that remained in Hannibal's shoulders.

Will knew it wouldn't be easily resolved, because Hannibal hated what he'd had to do and it was tripping him up.

While he was a monster and a very unique kind of killer, Hannibal was not the type of evil who sexually abused people…and Will imagined it was worse for the older man because of how Hannibal felt for him.

Hannibal had feelings for Will that no psychopath should have been able to genuinely experience. But then, Hannibal was not an ordinary psychopath, or even a psychopath at all, hell, sometimes he barely even seemed human. And maybe that meant that the range of certain emotions he felt -that Will didn't even fully understand- were heightened over the ones Hannibal lacked? Whatever the case, Hannibal was contending with remorse and self-contempt on some seriously shitty levels right then, at least as far as Will could tell.

He really wished he knew how to stop it, because he was fine, mentally and emotionally and with the painkillers in his system, he felt physically good as well, barely able to remember he was injured save for a flash of a bruise on his skin or a twinge when he sat down. Really, he was okay, he just wanted Hannibal to be as well.

Will curled his toes inside his socks on the wooden floor and he ran a hand through his damp curls at the nape of his neck as he watched Hannibal select his clothes, dark colors as well.

Will frowned when he noticed the hard set of Hannibal's jaw,

"I'll heal, Hannibal…it's mostly superficial, you said so…" he pursed his lips, looking over the older man as he tried to think of what he could say to comfort him, "…I can't even feel anything right-wait… **shit** , Hannibal, what did you do!?" he got up quickly and rushed over to Hannibal the second he spotted the bloody, cut up state of his right hand knuckles _._

Will grabbed the hanger and shirt Hannibal was holding and tossed it back into the wardrobe before he grabbed the older man's right hand in both of his own and inspected the deep cuts.

"I'll bandage it before I dress." Hannibal said with no inflection in his voice and Will looked sharply at him then, angry, but unable to think of anything to say besides,

"I forgive you, Hannibal…" he breathed out and Hannibal's gaze immediately dropped to their joined hands, his adams apple bobbing as he swallowed, "…for every single bruise, for every drop of blood, for…whatever, I forgive you." he looked at Hannibal's hand again and slid his thumbs through the fresh blood slowly slipping down over the older man's fingers. Will smeared the thick red liquid into the skin and then looked into Hannibal's face again, "Let's get through this day, alright? And if everything goes as planned, then we can be home by tomorrow night with all of this behind us." he pleaded quietly.

Hannibal nodded, but still didn't look at him.

Will pursed his lips, frowning slightly before he dipped his head and leaned closer, inhaling the scent of bergamot, rich cocoa and toothpaste mint on Hannibal and enjoying it, craving it, loving Hannibal and wishing his tension and guilt would ease,

"Kiss me." he squeezed Hannibal's hand, his voice tight and quiet.

Hannibal looked at him then, eyes first before he slowly raised his head and leaned closer, not hesitating to touch their lips together carefully, all too mindful of Will's badly bruised mouth.

Will leaned forward, attempting to deepen the kiss but Hannibal drew back and met his eyes before lowering them to look at Will's mouth, remorse creasing his brows and Will then chose to force the issue,

"I said **kiss** me." he demanded quietly, his tone insistent.

Hannibal clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes at Will, who just glared at him expectantly until Hannibal gave in and raised his left hand to slide it into Will's damp hair as the older man drew him forward into a firmer kiss. And although the pressure to his mouth stung vaguely, Will didn't care, all that he focused on right then was parting his lips against Hannibal's as a request for more. And it was slow and hesitant at first, Hannibal still kissing him carefully, but Will just hummed softly into it, placing his free hand on Hannibal's bare side as he interlocked the fingers of their joined hands and squeezed, encouraging him.

And when their tongues touched, all it took was a soft content moan from Will before whatever had been holding Hannibal back broke, and then he was kissing Will like he always did, delving his tongue into Will's mouth and kissing him as if the taste of Will's mouth was the finest delicacy to have ever graced his refined palate.

The kiss had been necessary for _both_ of them, Will only realized it when having Hannibal kissing him properly for the first time that day made him feel dizzy with relief. And in the end Hannibal had needed to be forgiven and had needed Will to make it alright for him to let go, because at some point…Will had become the most precious thing he had.

The empathetic awareness of it came over Will like fevered heat and intense rapture, and Will saw it clearly then, felt it as if he'd been winded as his empathy greedily latched onto the feelings that Hannibal was putting out, because Hannibal's guard was completely down…

…and God… _oh God_...was it really true that Hannibal needed him that much…?

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 11.12 AM_

Will had helped Hannibal bandage his knuckles after the older man had cleaned the deep cuts, and then Will had finished dressing while Hannibal did the same. The casualties of Hannibal's ire were two cracked ceramic shower tiles that Chiyoh would have to have replaced, and considering the severity of the cuts on Hannibal's hand and the fact that the tiles were quite damaged, Will shuddered to think of the force with which the older man must have hit the wall…just how angry he must have been.

He was fully dressed when he left the bedroom and made his way downstairs, his hair towel dried and combed through, wearing his contact lenses and not his spectacles, and the Tramadol was in full swing so he was numb to any pain. Will was ready to leave and eager to get it over with, so they could be done with Alana once and for all.

He walked through the lounge and into the kitchen, heading to the fridge to grab a bottle of water for himself and as he was retrieving one, he spotted Chiyoh outside on the side patio attached to the kitchen, and as a gesture for a temporary truce between them, since they had to work together that day, he also grabbed a bottle for her.

Will stepped through the glass patio doors and walked over to the garden table Chiyoh was standing at. There was an assortment of gear set out on the table and she was in the process of loading the magazine of a handgun. She was also dressed darkly –because it just seemed practical for the task ahead- in a slim fitting, three quarter sleeve, black button down shirt, a pair of black jeans, medium heeled slip on leather boots and she wore her hair pinned up in a bun.

When he stopped and stood across from her, Will extended the bottle of water and Chiyoh glanced up at him. And while her glance was at first the usual dismissive type, when she did a double take, her eyes widened slightly at him and Will was amused to find that she looked genuinely alarmed and concerned at his appearance.

He'd honestly only expected shock from her, because considering what he looked like, anyone would be shocked. After he'd been fully dressed he'd decided to take a look at his face in the mirror, and so he knew that his mouth and his right cheek were darkly bruised in bluish-purple patches in several places, and there were dark fingerprint marks on his neck as well as reddened raised skin. Also, he had the long sleeves of his shirt pushed up to his elbows, so the bruises on his wrists and forearms were visible.

And as her eyes took it all in, darting over the various marked points on his skin, Will could see that Chiyoh knew the difference between the dark love bite he'd had on his neck the night before and the bruises marring his skin presently.

When her eyes finally locked onto his again, Will raised his eyebrows and wiggled the proffered water bottle.

His nonchalance made her frown, but she took the bottle and then asked,

"What happened?" and she sounded reluctant, as if she didn't really want to know the answer.

Will took a good look at her then and he saw it, he saw her dread and distrust, her disbelief in the possibility that Hannibal was capable of sexually assaulting someone in the way Will appeared so obviously to have been.

And maybe she was expecting some bizarre hint or implication that he liked to be fucked rough until he was all bruised up, because when he shrugged and said,

"I needed a story." Chiyoh's expression was almost comically confused. It made Will smirk as he gestured to his face, "These marks may be the difference between prison and freedom for me. Should things go wrong and I get taken in by the police, I'd need a good story for my defense." he elaborated, and when he saw how torn she was between understanding and disapproval, Will added somberly, "Trust me, neither he nor I enjoyed the process behind it."

She lowered her eyes then, but only briefly before she looked at him again,

"Will you be okay?" her tone was all business again, obviously she just wanted to know if Will would be able to carry out his part of their tasks ahead. Will just nodded, breaking the seal on his water,

"I'm fine." and he was, so long as he had the painkillers, he was A-OK.

She stared at him for a moment before a light frown softened her severe countenance,

"Is Hannibal okay?" and in that question, there was clear concern.

Will swallowed his mouthful of water, inhaling lightly as he raised his eyebrows and looked away from her,

"I think so." he said honestly and she narrowed her already slim eyes at him in irritation and mistrust.

Yes, Will knew she didn't like him, and he understood why far clearer now that he'd gotten a better gauge of just how Hannibal felt for him. Chiyoh was very protective of Hannibal and she was apparently aware of the fact that Will was Hannibal's Achilles heel. And with their past so checkered with betrayal and violence, he supposed she had a right to despise him, just as he had a right to dislike her.

Chiyoh placed the water bottle aside then and continued to load the firearm magazine, effectively ignoring him.

Will was fine with that, and he occupied himself with looking over the gear on the table. His eyes fell on the two other handguns that needed loading and after taking another sip of water, he set the bottle down and reached for one gun and it's already ejected, empty magazine, and he began to load it using the open box of bullets Chiyoh had out on the table.

All three of the handguns were Beretta M9's, but they weren't the only guns on the table. Besides the three pistols, also laid out was a MSG90 sniper rifle –that Will was closely acquainted with- and a tranquilizer gun. In addition to the guns, there were two hypodermic needle darts, two tactical knives, two sets of black leather gloves in two different sizes, an old basic Nokia phone –that looked like it was at least five or six years old-, two pairs of black plasticuffs, a set of car keys and another separately set hypodermic needle filled with a small amount of liquid.

Will settled his gaze on the single needle and he frowned, immediately knowing it was meant for Morgan Verger.

"Is that safe to inject a five year old with?" he asked pointlessly, because Hannibal had prepared all of the needles the night before and the man knew exactly what he was doing when it came to drugs. Chiyoh didn't even spare him a glance as she clipped in the mag, set the gun down and picked up the third one to load it,

"Yes." was all she said.

"It's Chloral hydrate." Hannibal stated as he walked out onto the patio dressed in black from head to toe, wearing a long sleeve, fitted crewneck shirt, jeans and leather Chelsea boots. Will watched him as he approached the table, "And the dose is completely safe. As you know, among the information Chiyoh collected for me yesterday were Morgan Verger's medical records, obtained specifically so that I could plan accordingly for his sedation." he explained, coming to stand beside Will so their arms were just about touching. Hannibal looked at him, "I know you do not wish any harm to come to him, so I took measures to assure he'd be safe wherever I could."

Will's eyelids didn't flutter _exactly_ , but he did blink more rapidly than usual under the weight of Hannibal's sincere gaze. When his brief lapse in faculties ceased, Will nodded at the older man and smiled slightly,

"Thank you." he mumbled and Hannibal nodded once before he turned to look over the contents on the table,

"Do you have everything?" he asked Chiyoh just as she clipped the second loaded magazine into the gun.

Will was reminded then that he held the other gun and he quickly continued to load it.

Chiyoh looked at Hannibal and nodded, before she leaned down to retrieve a medium sized black duffle bag from under the table, which she held up over the table for Hannibal to take from her,

"Everything you requested is in there," she stated and after Hannibal took the bag, she flipped the gun she held over in her other hand and extended the grip of it out to him, "and this."

Hannibal raised his eyebrows at the firearm she was holding out to him,

"You're well aware that I don't use guns, Chiyoh."

"Bet visi kiti valia." _(But everyone else will.)_ Chiyoh said stiffly and Will's eyebrows shot up at the sudden change, stunned at hearing her speak another language all of a sudden. The dialect sounded stilted and uncomfortable coming out of her mouth, but she seemed confident of her words, which suggested she was fluent in whatever language it was, "Policija, jūsų priešai..." _(The police, your enemies...)_ she kept her eyes steadily on Hannibal who did the same to her, "…ir jūsų meilužis." _(...and your lover.)  
_

The only word she'd said that Will sort of understood was what had sounded like _police_ , but he was distracted from picking it apart any further when he saw Hannibal's mouth twitch, his eyes darkening as he looked at Chiyoh.

"Jūs patikėti, kad jis išduos mus?" _(You believe he will betray us?)_ Hannibal responded, and Will immediately knew then that it was Lithuanian because of how natural it sounded on the older man's tongue.

Will felt a bit anxious as they started to converse in a language he had no hope of understanding, and what was worse, was that he suspected it was because they were discussing _him_ , or else there would have been no reason to switch from English. But neither of them even so much as glanced at him as they went on.

"Nemanau užtikrintai tikime, kad jis nebus." _(I do not believe confidently that he will not.)_ Chiyoh responded, something in her tone suggested that she was treading carefully in the conversation, and that just confirmed for Will that she was talking about him.

Hannibal swallowed lightly and wet his lips as Will silently seethed beside him,

"Ar jis ką nors pasakyti?" ( _Did he say something?)_ the older man touched the table surface idly, dragging his fingers lightly over the wood, his eyes downcast. Chiyoh was unreadable, giving nothing away to Will as she stared at Hannibal,

"Ne, aš mačiau nieko, bet atsidavimo." _(No , I 've seen nothing but devotion.)_ she paused and Will clicked the magazine into place loudly, but neither of them looked at him, "Tačiau nei daro ranka, kuris maitina, kol dalykas, kad valgo nusprendžia įkąsti." _(But neither does the hand that feeds until the thing that eats decides to bite.)_ she said quietly. And whatever had come out of her mouth made Hannibal smile slightly and raise his eyes to look at her, but she wasn't finished and Will was getting fed up, "Ypač dabar, kad jums davė jam priemones, kad būtų nemokama." _(Especially now that you gave him the means to be free.)_

Hannibal's smile faded then, a shadow of remorse passing over his face and Will sensed the same thing he had upstairs from the older man, and so he knew they were talking about the marks on him.

"Aš vieną kartą davė jums reiškia būti nemokama, ir jūs nusprendė pasilikti." _(I once gave you the means to be free, and you decided to stay.)_ Hannibal rattled off, Will unable to even make out the beginning of one word from the end of the next.

Chiyoh had no such trouble,

"Mes šeima." _(We are family.)_ she said quietly and Will heard the first inflection of emotion in her voice.

"Mes visi esame šeima." _(We are all family.)_ Hannibal responded and there was a hint of emotion in his voice as well.

Will watched Chiyoh swallow lightly, her features softening,

"Jis išdavė jums praeityje." _(He betrayed you in the past.)_ she said quietly and slowly, looking at Hannibal intently, "Ir aš nerimauti, nes aš tave myliu." _(And I worry because I love you.)_

Her last words distracted Will from interrupting their conversation, because whatever she'd said sounded familiar. He'd heard Hannibal say something like that…was it…yes, yes, it had been the night before, when he'd said something in Lithuanian during the mess of everything, and it had sounded so similar to what Chiyoh had just said.

Will was frowning when Hannibal answered Chiyoh with finality in his tone,

"Jūsų rūpestis yra nereikalingas." _(Your concern is unnecessary.)_

She lowered her eyes at that and after a beat of silence, she nodded in acquiescence of whatever he'd stated.

And just like that, the conversation was over.

Will was really tempted to point out how fucking rude the two of them had just been, but there was a tension in the air between them that was very personal, and Will was reminded that Hannibal and Chiyoh were something like siblings, and that they had a right to a certain amount of personal discussions.

By that point, Chiyoh had lowered her hand in which she held the gun, because Hannibal was clearly not going to take it from her, or at least, Will had thought he hadn't been. Hannibal surprised him though, and Will watched with misplaced jealously as Hannibal walked around the table carrying the bag she'd given him, looking as if he were going to go back inside, but then he slowed and turned, walking over to Chiyoh, who turned her head to look at him when he stepped up to her.

They looked at one another for a moment before Hannibal lowered his eyes and with his free hand he reached for the gun she held. Will saw the relief in her face, however subtle it was, as she relinquished hold of the gun to him.

Hannibal turned and walked away then, the gun and bag in either of his hands and once he was out of sight, Chiyoh was immediately composed again, immediately unpleasant and stoic as per the usual,

"We will leave soon, I still have one more thing I have to pick up before it is time." she informed him, setting the safety on the other gun and then sliding it into the back of her jeans underneath her shirt.

Will glanced from her to the patio doors, thinking of the conversation he would likely never be privy to the content of…and then all at once, he decided that he honestly didn't care what they'd talked about.

' _Just get this shit over with.'_ he sighed quietly and then set his own firearm onto safety, placing it in the back of his jeans and not bothering to respond to Chiyoh, instead he just grabbed his water bottle and walked away.

She could pack her shit up on her own.

* * *

Ten minutes later they were all standing outside together in the front yard of the villa under the lukewarm sun, having gone over the plan a final time, they were now ready to head out.

Chiyoh had packed her rifle, the tranquillizer gun and the plasticuffs under a false bottom in the back of her SUV, the keys to which Will had in the pocket of his black leather jacket.

They were all wearing leather jackets actually, Will's and Hannibal's both classic cuts while Chiyoh's was a feminine, moto-cut, and while she and Hannibal were used to wearing leather jackets, Will felt a bit odd in his.

He also felt kind of badass…and it made him feel both giddy and like an idiot for feeling giddy over something so ridiculous. Honestly, they were about to kidnap a five year old boy and then kill his parents, there was really no reason to be feeling so impressed with himself. But yeah…he kind of was anyway.

Presently, Chiyoh handed him a pair of black leather gloves and he stuffed them into his pocket, while she was already wearing hers. Hannibal stood 'at rest', a sight Will had become familiar with in recent years. He knew that when Hannibal was genuinely relaxed, his posture was not quite so rigid and he was fond of having one or both of his hands in his pockets, as they were right then, in the pockets of his jacket, since his jean's pockets were occupied by his cell phone in one and the Nokia in the other.

Chiyoh absently jingled the keys she held to the car she'd had hidden under a tarp in the back of the villa's yard. It was a silver Renault Clio, a really old car model that was probably beyond servicing, but it looked to be in fair condition and was obviously meant to be the kind of car that no one would look at twice. She would be driving the Renault and Hannibal would be driving the rented Mercedes, since he wasn't going to be going anywhere near Florence.

They all looked at one another in the silence and then Chiyoh raised an eyebrow at Will,

"Ten minutes to two." she stated plainly, and he nodded at her in confirmation. Will was actually just really eager for her to be out of his hair for at least a little while, just until they'd meet up again later.

Chiyoh put her sunglasses on then, hiding her eyes behind them before she said,

"Be careful." and while it could have been directed at both of them, all three of them knew it was only intended for Hannibal. When Hannibal inclined his head to her and Will did his best not to roll his eyes, she turned and walked away to the Renault parked off to the side of the driveway and she got in, shutting the door and starting the car up without looking back. Will waited until she'd driven down the driveway and out of the open gate before he sighed and rubbed his hand over his cheek, his closely trimmed beard rasping softly as the slight breeze shifted his curls atop his head.

They had quite a day ahead of them, and it was only just beginning.

When he turned to face Hannibal, Chiyoh's car out of sight and so she was out of his mind, he found the older man was watching him…and yes, okay, Hannibal looked really gorgeous dressed like that. Will hadn't had a chance to appreciate it after what had happened that morning, but Hannibal; in all black, wearing a leather jacket, sunglasses on his head, pushing back his freely styled multi-tonal hair, all lean and tall and handsome, was a sight well-worth ogling.

Will absently wet his lips and reached out, grasping one open flap end of Hannibal's jacket and stepping in as he tugged Hannibal closer to him,

"I kind of wish we could fuck right now." Will said bluntly, smiling at Hannibal in the way he knew the older man thought was sexy, one part coy, two parts dirty. It was the smile that usually made Hannibal impatient to get Will naked, and that's how shirt buttons sometimes went flying or things got knocked off of surfaces.

Right then though, there would be no sex for various reasons, the most prevalent being that they had to leave.

Hannibal's mouth curved into a slinky smile, followed by a slip of his tongue between his lips,

"Had we only the time…" he trailed off, the desire for so much more than just sex reflecting in his near maroon eyes. He brought his hand up and lightly traced his fingertips along the underside of Will's jaw, the long black sleeves of his shirt and open hems of his jacket making his slender hands seem longer and paler.

"We'll have the time when this is all over…" Will said surely, and then Hannibal was kissing him, no longer holding back because of the bruising on Will's mouth, he kissed with promise and desire and possession, and Will's hands gripped the leather of his jacket, and then the shirt beneath as he pressed his body to Hannibal's and eagerly kissed back.

When they drew apart their breathing was slightly uneven and Will's eyes lingered on Hannibal's lips, until his attention was redirected to the sound of pills tic-tacking around inside a plastic bottle. Will stepped back slightly to look at the small bottle of pills Hannibal was holding up between them.

He frowned and licked traces of their mixed saliva from his lips,

"Shouldn't the Tramadol last me for a few hours still." he looked questioningly at the older man.

"These are not for you to take, Will…not unless you have to." Hannibal said, and it was enough of an explanation despite him not really saying anything much.

Will swallowed lightly and nodded unevenly as he held out his hand for the slim pill container, not bothering to read the fake label printed on the half-filled bottle of pills,

"What is it?"

"Ketazolam."

Will frowned briefly and then he smiled crookedly at Hannibal,

"Aw, I don't get my own cocktail, just a plain old downer?" he joked.

Hannibal showed a few teeth in his smile at that comment,

"I'm afraid so. The cocktail may have worked as an excuse for Bedelia, but I doubt it would carry much weight if you claimed to be drugged into submission." he said seriously.

Will agreed with a nod, curling his hand around the pill container,

"No…no, it wouldn't, not with our history." he admitted quietly.

"No…" Hannibal echoed, "…they are however, likely to believe that I kept you close and dependent with psychological manipulation, corrupt influence and that I dealt violence, forced isolation and used a touch of medication here and there…"

"…because that's pretty much exactly how it was before." Will said evenly and the statement hung in the air between them for a moment, Hannibal eventually inclining his head in acknowledgment of it. Will didn't care about all of that though, and his hand still clutching the side of Hannibal's shirt tightened, "And the sexual abuse?" he tilted his head, his brow pinching slightly.

Hannibal kissed him then, and they lightly tonged and licked into each other's mouths before the older man drew back and answered softly,

"It will inspire immense guilt and sympathy for you, judge and juror alike will take your side, and they will be convinced by the recounts of our history that there was always the potential for it in me, towards you."

Will understood with painful clarity,

"Because you couldn't eat me and keep me alive at the same time…but still wanted to taste me and consume me…" Will closed his eyes and leaned forward, pressing his face against the front of Hannibal's neck, "…because I wouldn't just submit to you or accept you and you needed to force your way into me, but not just into my head." he exhaled shakily and frowned, "Hannibal, I…I'm not sure I can tell the world that you've been…raping me. I don't think…" he was surprised by the lump that lodged in his throat, surprised by the distress he felt at the possibility of having to tell such a _disgusting_ lie.

Hannibal wrapped his arms around Will and inhaled against his hair as he nuzzled the mess of curls,  
"But you will, because it will mean your freedom…you will tell them anything they want to hear." Will felt Hannibal's adams apple bob against his lips, "And I will deny none of it."

Will started violently when he heard that and he shoved Hannibal back to look at him, but didn't let go of him,

" **What?** No, **no** you won't, Hannibal, **what are you talking about**!?" he said loudly, "This **entire** plan is centered around the strict point that you will be **nowhere** near Florence or anywhere where the authorities could find you, are you…Jesus, Hannibal…I'll fucking…don't you, don't you **dare** drive to-…"

"Will." Hannibal said firmly and he took a tense breath as the older man held his face in his bandaged hand and looked him right in the eye, "I am not going to divert from the plan," Will narrowed his eyes, not trusting Hannibal not to lie to him, not after the extent and wealth of feelings he'd felt in the older man just that morning, "I promise." he said firmly, "I'm sorry to have upset you, I just mentioned it as a side measure, an 'in case', if you will."

"I **won't**." Will said sternly and pulled Hannibal close again, kissing him roughly, hurting his own mouth in the process and then he breathed close and deeply against Hannibal's lips, his hands clinging to the older man's shirt, "I swear to whatever twisted fucking God you believe in Hannibal Lecter, if you get yourself arrested again I will _never_ _ **ever**_ forgive you." his voice broke with emotion then, fear and anger, at the end…and Hannibal smiled at him, all sharp, dangerous teeth, before he chuckled darkly…

…and then proceeded to kiss the breath from Will's lungs.

They lost about five minutes making out in Chiyoh's front yard, not including the time they'd spent talking, and Will gave not a single fuck.

He felt much better by the time he and Hannibal parted ways, Will sliding into the driver's seat of Chiyoh's SUV and leaving the property first, Hannibal following right after.

But a few miles in, they went separate ways on the road and Will's calm gradually dissipated.

He had to clutch the steering wheel tightly to keep himself from shaking with the anxiety of what was to come.

Honestly, sometimes he really wished he was a psychopath.

* * *

 _Italy - Florence -Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 1.32 PM_

Hannibal hadn't been kidding when he said that the information he'd had Chiyoh pick up would change their circumstances. The new information had not only included Morgan Verger's medical records, but had also consisted of cell phone numbers and a landline number for the Verger's apartment and records of the Verger's exact residency in Florence. Additionally, the written information detailed the fact that Alana and Margot led extremely incognito lives, which made _everything_ easier.

The Verger's didn't have any property listed in their name because they didn't purchase, specifically in order to avoid settling anywhere permanently. So they only rented, just in case they ever needed to leave a place in a hurry without any loose ends, in which case a landlord would likely just be paid off, just as they'd probably been paid for their discretion of who their tenants were in the first place. In that way, the Verger's could easily disappear in the night. Even the staff at the school Morgan attended were incredibly tight lipped about the Verger student, again, because they were paid to be. Apparently, Alana and Margot were even extremely careful about who and how many people they associated with, which meant that the small slip up with Morgan being put on Facebook was literally just pure fucking _luck_.

And with that being the case, Will knew Alana and Margot would be caught completely unawares, after all, there should have been no reason for them to be concerned about a small slip up like that. Because _realistically_ , the possibility of Hannibal ever tracing them through such a thing was infinitesimal…and well, the whole situation was just another example of how entropy fucked people over.

Will smiled to himself as he sat in Chiyoh's car, watching the time in between paging through a boat magazine he'd purchased at a convenience store when he'd filled gas a half hour earlier. He was parked two blocks and a corner away from Morgan Verger's school, had been for the last ten minutes or so.

He'd taken the drive from Livorno to Florence at a decent speed, not rushing despite having been running late, because technically he hadn't been. Unless there had been some hold up or freak accident on his way, Will had been set to make it to where he presently was with plenty of time to spare…and he had. So far, things seemed to be going well, but it wasn't guaranteed to stay that way, not when so much of their plan relied heavily on Margot and Alana's perceived predictability.

If Will had to put a number to it, he estimated a 90 % success rate, which wasn't bad as far as odds went for them. He'd had a pretty good read on both women years ago, Alana more than Margot, and Will honestly doubted they'd changed much since Hannibal's big reveal and all of its circumstances and consequences. If anything, Alana's bitterness would have merged with her anxiety over worrying about Hannibal finding them, which would likely have left her as somewhat of a neurotic head case, and if that was the case, she'd be easily pushed to paranoia. And while coupled with her acrimony, anger and calculated intelligence, pushing her might not necessarily be the wisest gamble, Will was confident that Margot would tip the scales in their favor. And of course, Morgan would be the deal clincher.

Will sighed as he thought again about the boy's uncertain future. He was staring unseeing at the pages of the magazine he held, not looking at any of the people who went by on the sidewalk or at any cars that drove by in the street. He had the radio on but wasn't paying attention to whatever pop music they were streaming, he just kept his head down and occasionally glanced up to check the time on the dashboard.

1.39 PM.

Will closed his eyes and inhaled deeply as he closed the magazine and dropped it on the floor behind his seat, mentally reassuring himself that everything was going to be fine. And that _when_ everything worked out fine, then he and Hannibal would return home to Spain and life would go on.

And hopefully, Hannibal would propose to him soon after.

Remembering the ring caused a lightweight feeling in his stomach, he hadn't had a chance to think about it much with everything that had been going on and it made him smile right then when he thought about how once Alana was out of the way, there'd be little left standing between him and that engagement ring. _Soon_.

1.43 PM

Will sat up straight in his seat after seeing the time and he picked his sunglasses up from the dashboard before sliding them onto his face. He started up the car then and carefully turned off from the curb after checking his mirrors, easing into the close traffic in the central part of Florence's busy city. He wasn't worried though, the flow was pretty steady and he estimated he'd make it on time to where he was supposed to pick Chiyoh up a few blocks down.

As he took the first corner and drove a block down, Will became aware of the sound of a fire alarm going off somewhere, and he frowned lightly when he realized it was becoming louder the closer he got to the school. His stomach knotted up and he instantly worried that something had gone wrong, because of all the details they'd hammered out, Chiyoh had _refused_ to divulge how she was going to kidnap Morgan from the school.

Will eventually drove by the school's front gates, crawling along at the expected pace that cars were meant to pass a school at, and he glanced at all the –admittedly not that many- private primary school children that were being convened on the front lawn of the brick and wrought iron fenced school yard, while inside, the fire alarm was going off. Many parents had already been parked along the street outside the school, waiting to pick their kids up and as they all rushed toward the school gates to check on their children, the whole situation appeared quite chaotic.

He had to wonder where Chiyoh was in all the panic, but in the end, however she got into the school was not his problem, she'd made that abundantly clear the night before. His only concern was to drive to a street that was a block down from the school, to where he'd pick her up at a bus stop, along with the unconscious Verger boy.

That was it and it was simple…so simple…

He was internally panicking though, because assuming she had in fact managed to take Morgan, it would be the first point of real risk in their plan. Because if the next part, Hannibal's part, of the plan didn't work out, then there'd be sirens and cops swarming the streets as well as road blocks and car searches and a high profile amber alert would go out throughout Florence...

Will swallowed tensely, hearing himself breathing even over the sound of the radio music, as he turned the final corner into the designated street, and he drove along at an even pace, looking ahead for the bus stop that he'd driven by earlier just to make sure of exactly where it was...

…and holy shit, he was nearing it…and Chiyoh was there, carrying in her arms five year old Morgan Verger, who looked to be sound asleep with his head on her shoulder, and draped over his back was a plain black children's coat. That had been Chiyoh's extra errand; she'd needed to purchase a coat to hide the boy's school uniform under when she carried him from the school.

Will pulled up to the curb at the bus stop, and after turning around in his seat so he could open the passenger door behind him for Chiyoh, he faced forward again and sat as ordinarily still as anyone who was picking up a friend or a wife from a bus stop would.

Chiyoh first placed the little backpack she was carrying on the floor behind Will's seat and then she carefully leaned into the car, sitting the boy and then adjusting his sedated form so that he was lying comfortably on the wide back seat. She then got into the backseat halfway in order to tuck his legs and arms in comfortably, and once she'd settled him nicely on the seat, she got out and closed the passenger door as softly as possible.

Will was grateful for her carefulness.

As she started walking around the car to get in beside him, Will took a second to look at the backseat and into the deeply sleeping face of Morgan Verger. He honestly looked like Mason in more ways than anything else, everything from his pale complexion to the square-ish shape of his face, to the slight –still developing- sharpness of his young features. His hair was kept far too short as well, which Will found made him resemble Mason even more, and it also gave the boy a rather severe look.

Will thought back to the photograph of the little kids at the birthday party, in which one of them had been Morgan, and now that he was seeing the boy firsthand, he was easily able to recall him in the photo.

And Will frowned when he remembered how very blue and alike Mason and Morgan's eyes were.

The passenger door opened and Chiyoh got in, and the second she'd closed it again, Will pulled off the curb and drove back into traffic while Chiyoh took her cell phone out of her pocket and speed-dialed Hannibal's cell.

Will vaguely heard one ring before it was answered,

"It's me." Chiyoh said evenly.

Will just about made out Hannibal's instruction to 'go ahead'.

She only spoke two words next,

"It's done." before she hung up.

That was all they'd needed to let Hannibal know.

Will focused back on driving then, he was headed for the freeway and from there they would drive out to their next destination. In the meantime, Hannibal would take care of his part of the plan…and all Will could do was hope that no one reported Morgan Verger missing in the next ten minutes.

* * *

 _Italy - Tuscan Countryside - Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 2.54 PM_

The drive to Siena was about two hours out of Florence, but Will and Chiyoh only needed to drive out half the distance to meet up with Hannibal at the rendezvous place.

The pair was silent throughout the drive, Chiyoh occasionally looking back to make sure the Verger boy was still breathing normally and was still out cold while Will was getting anxious to see Hannibal.

Hannibal's part of the plan was that he would call Margot's cell phone from the untraceable number of the Nokia that Chiyoh had given him, right after they'd secured Morgan. From there, Hannibal would explain the situation to her in that calm, controlled manner that he handled everything, letting her know they had her son and that if she wanted him to remain unharmed, she would do as he instructed. When she agreed, and she would agree, Hannibal would instruct her that when the school called her to inform her that Morgan was unaccounted for, she would calmly tell whoever called that she had picked him up, as per usual, and had rushed him home after the incident with the fire alarm.

Hannibal would also let her know that if she contacted the police, or if Alana contacted the police or any other authorities, if Hannibal even so much as heard a hint of a whisper that Morgan was being searched for or that his kidnapping had been made public, he'd kill the boy. That was the primary threat they would hold over Margot and Alana's heads throughout the plan, and Hannibal would use the leverage to its full worth. He would further tell Margot to immediately inform Alana of everything he'd told her, and he would stress that she would have to keep Alana in check. She would have to drive home the point for Alana that Hannibal Lecter had their son and would kill him if they breathed a word of his name or Morgan's disappearance to the police or anyone else.

Hannibal would go on to explain to Margot that he _knew_ of her and Alana's secret evacuation failsafe, and instruct her that they were to initiate it, severing all ties and leaving no loose ends, especially on Alana's part. There were to be no tricks played, or any funny business, they would make their preplanned getaway cleanly.

And the recompense for their full cooperation through all of his instructions, was that if they did everything, down to the T as he said, and came to him quietly, then Hannibal would let their son live, even after they were gone.

And finally, when all was agreed upon, Hannibal would inform Margot that there was a car waiting for her and Alana, parked in the street below their apartment building, specifically the silver Renault Clio, and that the keys were hidden on the front right wheel under the fender.

He would then give Margot coordinates and a time for them to meet up with 'him'.

And therein laid the part of the plan that would put both Will and Chiyoh at risk, because once Hannibal hung up on Margot, there was no telling whether she and Alana would actually do exactly as he'd told them to. Sure, the plan was a bet on it, but it was still not guaranteed. And if Margot and Alana didn't fall in line, they would have the location coordinates of exactly where Will and Chiyoh would be waiting for them to show up to, and if they rode up with a cavalry, or a swat team or even just a few police officers in tow, that would be the plan gone to shit. And Will would have to let Hannibal know immediately that they'd gone against the agreement and brought police, at which time, Hannibal would undoubtedly kill Morgan Verger…and probably mail his body parts to Alana and Margot in a grisly display of his ire.

And Hannibal would indeed be furious, because the further consequences of Margot and Alana bringing the police, would either be Will getting gunned down or arrested. As for Chiyoh, he honestly believed she would just disappear in that creepy way she was so very capable of, because there was no way she didn't have her own fallback plan if things went bad.

Will was concerned about getting arrested more than he was about getting killed, because one outcome was final while the other was not. But still, his concern for himself was just one side of his stress, the other being the disturbing fact that he knew Hannibal would actually kill Morgan. Child or no, Hannibal did not discriminate. The man had cut the lungs out of a living, breathing sixteen year old girl, mounted another on antlers to bleed out and had coldly slit the throat of a third without even flinching, so there was no chance that he'd hesitate to kill a little boy who would just become an expendable piece of meat useful for revenge if Will were to be taken from him. No, there was no doubt in his mind that if it came down to that, Hannibal would kill Morgan, Will absolutely believed he would.

And the only good thing about that fact, was that Margot and Alana would also believe and know that Hannibal would do it, and that was what would hopefully keep them in line.

Everything from that point on would be very up in the air and very stressful…and Will was wound up really tight over it.

Presently, they were coming up to a countryside picnicking spot where they'd agreed to meet Hannibal, it was a scenic stop between the two cities that had benches, tables, trees for shade and a landscape view of farms for miles, and it wasn't a very busy place because the drive was so short between Florence and Sienna that most people didn't bother stopping on their way. But despite that and having passed a single toll gate on the Autostrade so far without a problem, Will was still nervous as he took the gravel and sand turn off and drove along the path to the almost empty grassy parking area, the only other car there being Hannibal's rental Mercedes.

Will parked a car space distance away to the left of Hannibal's car and then he killed the engine and he and Chiyoh got out of the car at the same time, shutting their doors after themselves. Chiyoh was on the side where Hannibal was parked, so Will had to go around the back of the car to join them.

Hannibal had stepped out of the Mercedes and was shutting his door just as Will walked up, and they wound up standing much as they had in the front yard of the villa hours earlier, looking over one another and taking stock of their situation, noting that so far, everything seemed to be working out.

"Did everything go fine with Margot?" Will asked Hannibal first, needing to know.

The older man nodded,

"She was marginally hysterical at first, understandable after hearing my voice and then hearing that I have Morgan in my possession, but I managed to talk her down and make her listen to me." because yeah, Hannibal could literally do that like it was so easy, especially to people he'd had a previous influence over, "And I do believe we are clear of any problems at this length of the plan." he said airily with a small smile, confident and pleased, "Alana and Margot shall be meeting you at the location we agreed on."

Will latched on to his relief in that moment, only because he couldn't latch on to Hannibal and cling to him.

Chiyoh nodded then, also looking slightly relieved,

"I'll fetch the boy." she said quietly and then turned and walked over to the SUV, pulling open the back passenger door to retrieve Morgan.

"Did everything go as planned on your side?" Hannibal asked him, and Will nodded, inhaling deeply as he rubbed his scarred cheek and then the side of his neck, feeling a little too warm in his leather jacket,

"Yeah, I'll say. There's been nothing reported on the radio, and we heard no police sirens on our way out of Florence…" he raised his eyebrows, "…it seems all good." Will confirmed.

"We're almost through..." Hannibal commented with that same pleased smile and then he stepped back and aside to open the back passenger door of the Mercedes when Chiyoh walked toward them carrying Morgan, "…once we're passed yours and Chiyoh's meeting with Alana and Margot, we shall be totally in the clear." he said in a more reassuring tone, obviously able to read into Will's anxious expression.

They both watched Chiyoh settle the boy into the backseat of the Mercedes and when she was done and she got out again, Hannibal shut the door and checked his wristwatch. Will waited as Hannibal looked between himself and Chiyoh and then the older man nodded and pulled the Nokia phone out of his jacket pocket to hand it to Will,

"I will see you both later." he said evenly as Will took the phone from him and pocketed it.

Chiyoh nodded before she turned and walked back to the SUV, but Will didn't follow immediately, he stayed where he was and swallowed tensely as he and Hannibal looked at one another seriously for a moment, both of them knowing that if something went wrong after they parted ways right then, they wouldn't see each other again, maybe not for months, or maybe never again. But Hannibal didn't seem worried, even though Will was.

And Hannibal didn't need to be prompted to step closer and press a lingering lip to lip kiss to Will's mouth, or to lightly caress a hand through Will's hair as he drew back, or to look him in the eye and quietly reassure him,

"We _will_ see one another _later_." he said confidently, and really, all Will could do was nod.

He stepped back then, his hand briefly catching Hannibal's as it fell away from his face, before Will turned and walked back to the SUV, to the passenger side because Chiyoh had reclaimed the driver's seat of her car. And as Will got in, she started up the car and quickly they were pulling out of the parking area, Will watching in his side mirror as Hannibal got into the Mercedes and started the car up.

Will frowned lightly, unable to shake his concern that he wouldn't see Hannibal again, and also…Will acknowledged with some sadness that he was also worried about leaving Morgan with Hannibal. He didn't think Hannibal would hurt him, not unless it came down to it and Alana and Morgan didn't follow the rules laid out. But he worried that if Morgan woke up for any reason and he was confused and distraught, what would Hannibal do? Would he be annoyed and abrupt with the boy? Would he comfort him?

Jesus, Will couldn't even picture what **that** would look like.

As they drove off the gravel path and turned back onto the road, heading in the direction of Florence, Will glanced in the side mirror again and he watched as the black Mercedes turned onto the road not long after them, but drove away in the opposite direction…

…and only then, randomly, did Will think of Mischa, and how she had once been Hannibal's charge, his responsibility. And Will recalled the nuances and sentiments in Hannibal's voice and face whenever he'd mentioned her, all of the subtle tells that had made Will privy to how much Hannibal had loved his little sister.

Will smiled softly as he thought about it, feeling some of his tension bleed away…at least for the moment.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please leave your thoughts :)


	4. If I'm Drawn & Quartered It's Only For Y

An: - **THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT THAT CERTAIN READERS MAY FIND UPSETTING. Please refer to the tags and sensitive readers tread lightly.**

\- Apologies for the delay in uploading this. I got stuck into typing another Hannigram one shot and hadto force myself to put it away in order to get this proof read and posted.

\- This is not beta'd, my apologies for any mistakes. If anything is too major, please inform me.

-Please view the AO3 upload for additional story images.

* * *

What matters an eternity of damnation to someone who has found in one second the infinity of joy?

–Charles Baudelaire

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 7.46 PM_

Going head first into the riskiest part of the plan, Will and Chiyoh had a long drive ahead of them, having to travel all the way back and through Florence before heading north of Florence and in the direction of Vicenza. The coordinates Hannibal had given Margot and Alana were for an open area of land in the countryside of Vicenza, a spot about a mile off the main road and quite literally in a wide, clear and flat stretch of land, with no houses or people in any direction for a great distance. No interruptions…no accidental witnesses and also, it was really far from where Hannibal was going with Morgan.

The main advantage of the spot was that from where Will and Chiyoh would be parked and waiting, they could see the main road in the far distance, which meant that when Margot and Alana drove up, they'd immediately see them coming because they'd be able to watch the car turn off the main road to head in their direction…and more importantly, he and Chiyoh would be able to see any additional cars that came along after, if any would be following the Verger's.

Seeing them first wouldn't necessarily keep Will, and possibly even Chiyoh, from getting caught. But it would give Will the window of time he'd need to call Hannibal and let the man know that things had gone wrong.

And shit, just thinking about it made him feel anxious and nauseous, but he forced himself to shrug it off.

Presently he and Chiyoh were parked at the meeting spot in the middle of nowhere, and with the sky heavily overcast the landscape was really dark, and Will knew that was a good thing, because it gave them maximum visibility of headlights in the dark whilst rendering Chiyoh's black SUV almost unseen. Also, it wasn't too windy over such low, flat land, which would be perfect incase Chiyoh needed to make any long distance shots with her rifle. The conditions were all seemingly in their favor and so far their plan was working out really well.

Will was standing outside the SUV right then, leaning against the passenger side door and staring out over the dark uneven landscape. The temperature had dropped a fair amount when night fell over the countryside and Will was really glad for having worn a jacket. He'd been sitting inside the car when they'd first arrived, but when Chiyoh had switched off the radio not long after they'd parked the car off facing the direction of the road, he'd found it too uncomfortable to sit in complete silence and in such close proximity with her, so he'd gotten out, preferring the cold weather to her glacial demeanor.

They hadn't spoken a word to one another on the drive either, and Will honestly couldn't wait to be away from Chiyoh when it was all over. He seriously doubted there would ever be anything but bad blood between them, no matter how many years might pass. Sure, he would always be civil to her, for Hannibal's sake, but other than that, he couldn't manage anything more. Chiyoh was just…well, Chiyoh, and that just didn't gel with who Will was.

He sighed loudly, rolling his eyes into an absent glance toward the main road in the distance, where there was still no sign of a car. In fact, there hadn't been a single one since they'd arrived there almost an hour earlier, and when Will pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and checked the time, he saw that it was close to time for Alana and Margot to show up, the hour for which was set to be 8 PM.

Will held back another sigh and rubbed at the side of his neck, and as a distraction, he checked his usual bookmarked news pages, wanting to be doubly sure that there wasn't anything new about himself and Hannibal making headlines.

And to his relief, there was absolutely nothing. The only news trending right then was about some terrorist bombings happening in the UK, which wasn't really a rare or surprising occurrence anymore.

Will pursed his lips as he relaxed a little more, ignoring a light twinge of pain when he did so, he crossed one ankle over the other where he leaned and continued to browse on his phone, trying to keep his mind busy, trying not to think about what he'd have to do if Alana and Margot drove up with a procession of police cars following them.

As he was tapping through his browser tabs, Will chewed his bottom lip absently and winced that time, being reminded more acutely of the bruising on his lips. Sucking in air quietly through his teeth, Will stood off from the car, locked his phone and then pocketed it in his jacket before he took a few seconds to do a mental assessment of his overall physical pain status.

He'd taken a second dose of Tramadol just before they'd met up with Hannibal earlier, so he figured he could take another two right then. He wasn't really feeling more than a little stiff and achy in places, but he didn't want to be able to feel _anything_ when he was dealing with Margot and Alana, which would be soon.

Deciding that, Will reached into his jeans front pocket and pulled out the two pill containers there, and easily recognizing the pain killers from the Ketazolam pills because the container was smaller, he put the latter back into his pocket and popped the other container lid to drop two Tramadol into his palm. He dry swallowed them and then pressed his fingers into his eyes, sniffing idly and sighing deeply before he turned around and pulled the car door open.

Will left the door open as he sat in the passenger seat and grabbed his almost empty bottle of water he'd had in the console all day, unscrewing the cap and swallowing down what was left of the liquid. He was aware of the pinch of pain he'd felt when he sat down and as he wiped the faint moisture from his lips, Will flashed back to the night before, remembering how Hannibal had been shaking, how much it'd hurt both of them when he'd done what he'd needed to.

Hannibal was evil and he was a monster, but not that kind of monster, and Will had actually witnessed what it had taken out of Hannibal to hurt him that way. God, it'd been fucking horrible.

He frowned when he remembered the Lithuanian words Hannibal had said in a quiet, strained voice against his ear during the short ordeal. They had been quite close to being the same words he'd heard Chiyoh say that morning when she and Hannibal had been talking.

Will leaned back in his seat and replayed the phonation of the words in his head. He figured he might have been able to Google the phrase if he had absolutely any idea how to begin spelling the foreign words, but as it were, he had no clue. But…Chiyoh did.

Pursing his lips, Will raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at Chiyoh, who was sitting calm and still, occasionally blinking, her fair skin glowing in the dark contrast of the car. He contemplated whether or not he had any boundaries to risk in asking her, but he doubted it, because after all, she'd said the words to Hannibal, so they couldn't really be all that personal.

So he went ahead and shattered the silence they'd been sharing for hours,

"You speak Lithuanian, right?" he turned his head to face forward again, absently keeping his eyes peeled for headlights anywhere on the dark distant road.

Chiyoh was quiet for a few beats more before she spoke,

"Yes." and somehow she managed to make that single word sound as if she were calling him an idiot for asking such a stupid question. He supposed it was a dumb question to ask after having witnessed her and Hannibal's conversation that morning.

Still though, she was being unnecessarily unpleasant and standoffish, but he managed not to let it get to him too much, even as an off balance, teeth clenched smile stretched across his face, accompanied by a huff of laughter. Only just managing to restrain the dark part of him that was deeply annoyed by her, Will kept himself from giving into the urge to reach across the console so that he could strangle her until she was blue in the face.

Drumming his fingers idly against the denim of his jeans, he took a breath and ventured his question anyway,

"Then you can tell me what _oosh-tah-veh…me-loo_ means." he intentionally made it sound like a statement and not a request as he glanced over at her absently. And he did a double take when he realized that she was looking at him, her gaze sharp and her lips pinched in a thin line,

"Why?" she asked quietly.

Will blinked at her and stopped drumming his fingers, holding her gaze steadily,

"Because Hannibal said it." he answered honestly, seeing no reason to hedge.

"To you?" she frowned slightly, and something about the way she asked it suggested she was surprised.

He raised his eyebrows,

"Yes." he answered before licking at the bruised corner of his mouth.

Chiyoh's facial expression shifted from surprise to vague disbelief and then she looked away through the windshield and her features hardened. Will looked forward then too and his heart rate sped up when he saw the headlights of a car turning off the main road and coming their way, it was still quite a distance off though.

He checked the time on the dash, seeing that it was five minutes before eight.

' _How punctual.'_ he smirked to himself, wondering if Alana was expecting Hannibal to be waiting for her and so she'd decided to appeal to his urbane comportment by being so wonderfully on time. Silly girl.

He actually felt a spike of giddiness when he wondered how she'd react to seeing him, because as it stood, she likely had no idea that he was even involved, or alive, and even if she suspected, she'd probably still be horribly surprised to see him.

He and Chiyoh sat in silence watching the oncoming car's headlights dip and shift unevenly as it drove over the landscape, and when it was about fifty meters away, Chiyoh switched the SUV's high beams on and immediately, the Renault slowed down to rolling and then halted about thirty meters away. It was time then, and Will breathed steadily despite his racing pulse, while Chiyoh seemed perfectly calm beside him.

When the headlights of the Renault were switched off, Will grabbed his pair of leather gloves off the dash and pulled them on. Chiyoh was already wearing hers –hadn't taken them off all day- and she reached into the back seat for the tranquilizer gun. They waited a beat, and only when they saw the Renault's doors opening, one on each side –and still no other cars coming in the distance- Will and Chiyoh opened their doors as well but didn't get out.

The high beams were blindingly bright, making it so that Alana and Margot couldn't see them, which had been the plan from the beginning and Will only got out of the car, slowly and remaining behind his open door, when he saw Alana and Margot squinting into the bright lights of the SUV.

"Hannibal?" Alana said aloud as she shut the car door, a second sound following as Margot did the same. Alana's voice was tense but not antagonizing, which meant she was wary, if not scared. Will looked her over from his vantage point, where she was clearly visible to him in the stream of light, seeing that she looked as lovely as ever. She was still wearing her necessitated pants suit fashion –to cover the scars on her legs-, her present ensemble was of a bright red jacket and skinny legged pants that matched the color of her lipstick, worn with a black under top and strappy heels, and her dark long hair was open and gathered on one side in a clasp. Though honestly, the pale distress of her face didn't compliment her pretentious outfit at all, and the sight of it made Will smile.

Poor Alana, where was all of that confidence she'd exuded when she'd been baiting Hannibal while he'd been in her cage and under her watch in Baltimore? Tut, tut.

Margot looked equally stunning, as always, in a deep purple and gold plaid pants suit, worn over a soft lilac bow-neck halter blouse and with black stilettos. And beneath her immaculate makeup, her big green eyes gave away that she was absolutely terrified. Although, Will suspected that her fear was mostly for her little Verger baby boy, whereas Alana's fear was probably broader spectrum, since she knew just how many bones Hannibal had to pick with her, or break of hers...either way, really.

"H-hannibal?" Alana said again, approaching slowly with Margot falling in just behind her.

Will waited, not having to look through the car at Chiyoh to know what was coming, because the second he heard a soft snicking sound, followed by Margot's startled yelp as she grabbed at her leg, he knew Chiyoh had shot her with the tranquilizer dart. Alana yelled her wife's name as Margot wobbled and fell against her weakly, and they held onto one another as they crumbled to the grass and sandy ground, Alana supporting Margot's weakening weight as much as she could.

Will could hear Alana's accelerated breathing even from several meters away. She was quickly starting to panic as she pulled the dart out of her unconscious wife's leg with a trembling hand, her crystalline blue eyes were wide and appeared pellucid due to the high beams from the SUV as she looked fearfully at the dart.

It was Will's turn to show himself then, and after slowly sliding his firearm out from the back of his pants and unlocking the safety, quietly, Will walked around his door, away from the car and toward Alana, where she was sitting back on her legs with Margot's upper body cradled in her arms. Alana's head was down at that moment, so she didn't see him approach, and her breathing was so loud that the soft crunch of his boots on the grass didn't register to her either.

And only once he was a mere meter from them, looming over the couple with the high beams on his back silhouetting him somewhat, did Will raise his gun and point it down, aimed at Alana's head,

"Relax, Alana," she instantly gasped, her head snapping up and eyes going wide for a second before she squinted at him, and as her breath shuddered out, Will continued speaking, "it was just a tranquilizer, she'll be fine..." '… _for now.'_ he didn't verbally add that last part, deeming it unnecessary as he instead kept his tone neutral and comforting, even as he trained his gun on her steadily.

He was aware that he and Chiyoh weren't out of the danger zone yet, any second a procession of police vehicles could still appear on the dark road. There was no way of knowing for sure that they were safe, not yet at least, so Will had to be careful to maintain his behavior as a possible victim, just in case Alana might need a reason to back him up later, if he was taken into custody.

"Will?" she breathed his name out with something like horrified amazement, squinting up at his unclear silhouette, "Oh my _God_ , Will, you're a-alive?" she sounded like she had genuinely believed he were dead.

"Mostly, the last time I checked." he added a trademark 'Will Graham of Old' grimacing smile to that statement, choosing his words carefully to represent enough self-awareness of his position as a 'victim', while still training his gun on her as a sign of his loyalty to Hannibal.

He had to find the perfect balance between the two, Alana was smart after all.

He watched Alana swallow tensely, looking at the gun he held aimed at her before her eyes darted around,

"Where's Morgan?" she asked with a sad frown, then, "Where's Hannibal?" and that time her tone was more aggressive when she asked after the serial killer, in fact it was almost tangibly acrid when she said his name. Will figured that she might be assuming he was alone there, since she wouldn't have known who shot Margot, and not having seen a second person with him, she probably assumed he'd done it.

"The answer to both your questions is the same, Alana…" Will informed her calmly, "…not here."

She hiccupped softly, clutching Margot's shoulders, her pretty blue eyes starting to brim with tears,

"Did Hannibal…did he hu-hurt Morg-…?"

"No," Will cut her off with a slight shake of his head, "and as per his instructions, so long as you and Margot followed them, no harm has or will come to Morgan Verger." he said evenly and she swallowed again, blinking wetly up at him, "Did you follow his instructions to the letter, Alana?" he asked quietly, tensely.

He needed to know, because if she had, then technically they were in the clear, and Morgan would be _safe_.

Her lips were quivering and she was struggling to steadily focus on him because of the bright light. So it took her a few seconds of shaky breathing before she nodded unevenly.

Will had to force himself not to smile in relief,

"Good, that's very good, Alana." he allowed himself a sigh though, which was in genuine relief for himself, but false relief for her. He moved things along next, "Now, I need you to give me yours and Margot's cell phones, and any weapons you have on you."

"Will, W-Will, why are you doing this?" she asked suddenly, frowning deeply, "Why did you let him take our son, why are you _helping_ him?" her voice was getting whispery, a weakened tone he'd only heard once before from her when she'd been lying more broken than intact on Hannibal's front steps. It was obviously her pained and scared voice, "Are you…helping him? Will, wha-…"

"Weapons and…c-cellphones, Alana." he purposely inflected a note of uncomfortable urgency into his tone, expecting that she would assume he was at least partially distressed about what he was doing…when in fact, he was clenching his teeth together so he didn't start snapping at her to shut up and do as he said. It had been a long day and he was so fucking _tired_ , he just wanted it over with.

Alana fell silent then and moved a shaking hand slowly into her suit jacket, and Will watched her warningly as she first removed a small handgun from under her jacket. He gestured with the barrel of his gun for her to toss it onto the ground near his feet. She did, and then she brought out her cellphone as well before she felt around inside Margot's suit jacket, retrieving a second gun, and after a few more pats, she found Margot's cellphone.

When she'd tossed all of it on the ground, Will ignored the small pile and reached into his jacket pocket for the Nokia phone,

"I really hope that's everything, Alana…" he said softly, keeping his gun aimed at her as he switched the phone on, "…because if you try to surprise me, I'll have to return the favor." and that was pretty much a blatant threat, and it was too late now that he'd said it, he couldn't take it back anyway.

Alana was staring up at his unclear form with confusion, fear and panic in her eyes…but also curiosity, because as she'd always tried to, she wanted to understand him, even right then, with her life in danger.

Will extended the Nokia out to her, but not all the way,

"I'm assuming you've taken care of putting your disappearance failsafe into place, as he told you to?" Will purposely didn't say Hannibal's name, leaving Alana to draw her own conclusions about why he wouldn't say the man's name, and when she nodded tensely, looking pained, he held the phone out the rest of the way, "Then all that's left for you to do is to call whatever people you have on standby, so that you can tell them that you're going into hiding because you believe **he's** found out where you are. You need to make it clear that they shouldn't go looking for you." and when she looked at him desperately and afraid, Will added, "Because no one will find you where you're going." and he knew that it was the last straws she'd had to grasp at, whatever people she had in place to take note if she just went missing without forewarning, because she broke down then and sobbed.

Perfect. They officially had her in checkmate.

He nudged the phone at her when she still hadn't taken it from him and she started sobbing louder as she breathed out,

"Will, please don't do thi-…"

"Alana," he said softly, "I don't want to have to remind you of what happens to Morgan if you don't cooperate." and he made sure his voice was just a little unsteady, feigning fear and empathy for her and her family.

And after his indirect reminder of the potential fate of her son, it took a moment for her to get her bearings and calm her sobbing, before she carefully let go of Margot's shoulders and then reached for the phone with a trembling hand. She pressed the buttons unsteadily to key in a number, but before she activated the call, just to make her hopeless situation as clear to her as possible, Will lowered his gun.

Alana immediately looked up at him, a flash of hope in her eyes, but Will made a show of taking his cellphone out of his pocket, and after unlocking the screen, he tapped into his contacts list and then briefly showed her the screen, showed her that he had a number ready to call. The word 'Hannes' was displayed on the screen followed by a number, but he'd barely let her see it before he turned the phone away again.

And only once he had her absolute, unwavering attention, did he speak,

"That's **his** number, and all I have to do is call him and he'll know what it means." he clarified for her, "So make it convincing, make sure that whoever you call believes that you're disappearing voluntarily," he paused and lowered his voice, "because if _any_ of this ever comes back to him after your gone, it's his _promise_ that your son will face the consequences." he said seriously, "Cooperation is the only price for Morgan's life, Alana." Will stressed it in plainer terms, "Do you understand?"

And then Will saw it, disgust, anger and hatred flashing in her pretty face, and not just for Hannibal, but for him as well. He at least knew she was actually taking him seriously after that, especially as he took a step back and held his phone up so she could see his thumb hovering over the call button before he gestured for her to go ahead.

* * *

 _Thursday – 22 Sep 2022 – 8.39 PM_

It took a while, because Alana called three different people, and doing as told, she handled the calls with confidence and as much poise as she could, so as not to raise suspicion, and so the conversations carried on at an unhurried pace.

From what Will could identify of her fluent Italian, the first two calls she made were to local authorities, probably public and private sectors. He listened carefully for any telling words or odd phrases, and especially for the name 'Hannes' or the alphabetical spelling of it, just in case she'd managed to see it on his phone. But by the end of the two calls, she hadn't said anything suspicious or attempted to spell anything and he relaxed again.

The third person she called…was Jack Crawford.

Will narrowed his eyes as he listened to the one-sided conversation, impressed again as Alana spoke with a surprisingly steady voice, sounding only just unsettled,

"Hello, Jack." she paused, "Yes, it's me. I know I don't, no…no we're fine, uh, listen…" she paused again, "…yes, Jack, I promise I'm fine, we're…we're all fine…" she shot Will a hurt look, "…yes, Jack, Jack please…I need you to listen." she swallowed tensely then and blinked a few tears out of her eyes, "I'm calling to tell you…that we're going to disappear for a while."

Will could immediately hear Jack raising his voice on the line and Alana was doing her best to keep it together, "…no, we are, we're fine but…but Jack, it's because, because I think, I think he may have," her voice broke slightly, "I think he may have found us…" Jack asked 'how' and 'have you seen him' so loudly that Will wasn't surprised when Alana winced away from the phone, "….no, I haven't seen him," sniff, "and maybe I'm being paranoid, but I just don't want to take a chance…" she made her tone firmer then, clenching her jaw afterward. She had always enjoyed using that tone on Jack, who was now loudly demanding that she tell him what had happened to make her worry and then he insisted he wanted to see her, asking her where she was.

Will made a point of showing Alana his intent to press the call button when she'd gone too quiet and abruptly, she shut Jack down, "No, I can't, I can't be attached to anyone who _ever_ knew him. I have to cut ties," she said surely, clutching the poor old Nokia painfully tight in her white knuckled grip as she shook her head at whatever Jack was saying to her, "no, no I can't but Jack, if I ever feel like it's safe," her voice shook as she lied quite convincingly, "then I'll contact you again, I swear…but for right now, I have to do this. I'm cutting ties, because I can't- I can't risk…" her voice broke and she shut her eyes, tears sliding over her cheeks.

Jack was saying something and Will left Alana to take a few seconds to recompose herself as she wiped at her face with a shaking hand, waiting with only slight patience for her to end the call. He was somewhat amazed by how unmoved he was by the whole thing, while being far more focused on the fact that Jack hadn't even known where in the world Alana was. Honestly, it kind of seemed like she'd made herself and her family unlikely to ever be found, while also having made them all sitting ducks if they ever were, like right then.

Jack continued to talk, getting louder again, and Alana looked angry and hateful when she bit out,

"…no Jack, you **can't** help us and I **won't** risk my son's life to let you try." and that was the truth, both ways. Will immediately noticed that the affection and emotion in her tone was far more intense than it had been when he'd last heard her speak of Morgan. So she'd really grown to love the little boy born of a twisted monster's genes.

That was good…it would work out best for everyone under that circumstance.

The remainder of the conversation was more subdued after that, Alana once again reassuring Jack that she would contact him _if_ she ever needed to and then reassuring him that she, Margot and Morgan would be fine. It was ten minutes in total before she finally hung up and without looking at Will, she held the phone up to him, her expression miserable, angry and sad as she kept her head down.

Will put his own phone away before he stepped forward and reached for the Nokia, and he wasn't even startled when Alana suddenly grabbed his wrist and stared up at him with wet eyes and open desperation,

"Will, you don't have to do this, you don't have to, we can call Jack again…he'll know, Will, the _world_ will know that it's not your fault that you're doing this. He's done it before, Hannibal's used people like this…Miriam and Abigail and Bedelia, Will, he's done it many times before." she was pleading harshly and Will allowed her to say what she needed to, fully aware that Chiyoh was standing out of sight and listening to what Alana was offering him. "Whatever he's done to you, whatever drugs he's used, or whatever he's threatened you with…" she was gaining momentum, voice becoming steadier since he wasn't stopping her, "…M-Molly and Walter, Will, don't you remember your family? Don't you want to go home? What about your dogs, Will?" her knuckles were turning white for how tightly she was holding onto his bruised wrist, the padding of his jacket and shirt barely serving as a buffer.

Will took a deep, patient breath as she went on, exasperated by the fact that Alana would just never get it. He waited until she paused to take a breath before he calmly interrupted her,

"Hannibal is my family." was all he said.

Alana opened her mouth to say something else, but it was cut off when she gasped, the soft snick of the tranquilizer gun having gone off a second before a dart was shot into her arm. Will blinked placidly as Alana turned her stunned blue eyes to look in the direction of the sound of approaching, softly crunching footsteps. She was already going numb, her fingers loosening on Will's wrist and her eyelids becoming heavy as she squinted to see the person who'd shot her. But Chiyoh remained where the high beams would make her unrecognizable, Alana fading too quickly to look any harder and by the ten second count, her fingers went completely lax on Will's wrist and she fell sideways to lie partially on top of her wife.

Will turned his head but didn't properly look at Chiyoh since the lights were too bright,

"How long will they be unconscious for?" he asked, all business, as he reset the safety on his gun and slid it back into his jeans before placing the Nokia into his jacket pocket.

"Long enough, we will be at our destination before they wake up." Chiyoh responded in the same tone.

"Alright, check the Renault to see if they brought anything with them, I'll deal with Alana and Margot." and that time it was an instruction, albeit an unconscious one. Will didn't amend it to a request though, and after a moment in which he was aware of her staring at him, with what he was certain was contempt, she moved to do as he'd said.

Will waited a few seconds, took another deep breath, smirked to himself and then set about fulfilling his own task.

* * *

After putting the plasticuffs on the two unconscious women, Will laid them both out on the ground and gave them a cursory police pat down to check if they had anything else on them. When he found nothing that could be used as a weapon, he went ahead and did the heavy lifting, first placing Margot in the passenger seat of the SUV, strapping the seatbelt across her chest and then propping her up so it looked as if she were fast asleep. Next, he proceeded to do the same thing with Alana, except he put her in the Renault, which he would be driving to their next destination.

When he was done and satisfied that they looked as if they were both just asleep, Will walked over to stand where Chiyoh was leaning against the front of the Jeep. The lights of the SUV were no longer on high but were instead set to low beams, providing enough visibility without blinding them. Will pressed his fingers into his eyes as he came over to stand a few feet from her, and when he looked up he glanced from Chiyoh to the spot on the ground where the guns and phones had been lying, but they were gone, which meant Chiyoh had already hidden them in the SUV.

"They had only luggage in the car, but it accounted for everything necessary, clothes, passports, cash, and a few sentimental belongings." Chiyoh said unprompted. She was standing with her hands in the pockets of her zipped up leather jacket as she watched him in that phlegmatic way of hers. Will slipped his hands into his jacket pockets as well and inhaled the chilly air as he nodded with equal indifference and then sighed as he raised his eyebrows and looked at her directly,

"Did you let Hannibal know?"

"Yes."

Will looked up at the slowly moving clouds then as the wind kicked up slightly and unsettled his hair,

"I guess that's it then, we can leave." he decided with a shrug.

"We can." she agreed.

And Will didn't want to linger near Chiyoh any longer than he had to, so he turned away immediately and walked toward the Renault, and he had just pulled open the driver's side door when Chiyoh said his name. He stopped with one foot in the car to look at her, but he couldn't see her properly because she'd move to the driver's side of the SUV,

"What?" he asked shortly, narrowing his eyes against the low lights.

There was a beat of silence before she spoke,

"It means…'I love you'."

Will blinked, his face twitching into a frown,

"What?" he repeated, heart skipping a noticeable beat, because he _knew_ what she was talking about.

Chiyoh didn't answer right away and Will was about to repeat himself when she said just audibly,

"Aš tave myliu…it means 'I love you'." and she punctuated the end of her statement by getting into the Jeep and slamming the door.

Will stood frozen, part numb and part shocked and part elated and part dazed, as Chiyoh started the engine of her SUV, pulled away and drove off, passing him and the Renault as she headed for the main road.

But he didn't rush to follow her because he was too busy processing what she'd just told him.

Hannibal had said that to him…'Aš tave myliu', and it meant I love you.

Hannibal had said I love you.

And Will hadn't even fucking known.

He laughed quietly and rubbed his hands over his face, dragging them slowly down and off his chin as a smile stole across his face, crooked and devoted and emotional…and happy.

Will looked at the car then and quickly got in, closing the door and starting up the engine. He abruptly reversed, turning the steering wheel sharply and making a reverse U-turn before he started driving in the same direction as Chiyoh, in the direction that Hannibal was in.

The night would be long, but when it was all over he and Hannibal would go home together to Spain, because the plan had _worked_. And while it still wasn't flawless, because anything could go wrong in the future, there was the hope that when someone did finally question the introverted Verger family's disappearance, Hannibal's name would not come up.

But they'd cross that bridge when they got to it, for right then, things had gone excellently and in a few hours Hannibal would have fulfilled his promise to Alana, and Will would be just that much closer to getting engaged to Hannibal Lecter.

* * *

 _Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 12.51 AM_

Their final destination in the plan was an abandoned church just outside of Grosseto _._

And as Will drove off the main road and down through the overgrown tree lined path toward the old stone church, he found himself creeped the fuck out at how eerie the place was. Seriously, Hannibal really knew how to pick his killing grounds. But Will could easily see how the location made sense, that far off the main road, surrounded by trees, no one in their right mind would come to a place like that at night, and probably not in the daytime either.

It was almost creepier than the Lecter Estate. Almost.

After a slow five minute drive navigating the car through hanging trees and over uneven ground, Will finally saw the old Catholic church in somewhat of a clearing up ahead. It wasn't a big church, or a very nice one and he could see that a large part of the roof was caved in on one side, weeds were overgrown everywhere, windows were shattered and the stones looked moldy. It was terribly dilapidated, neglected and unused and really out of the way, absolutely perfect for what the evening's events would hold.

Will drove into the side yard of the run down building where he parked off on the left side of Hannibal's Mercedes, since Chiyoh's SUV was parked on the right. He killed the engine then and after another glance through the windshield at the yard around the church, which consisted of a broken fence on one side and a cemetery stretching into the near distance from the back area of the church, Will turned to look at Alana in the passenger seat. Her head had lolled forward again so that her chin was on her chest, he'd had to push it back a few times before he passed through the toll gates just so she'd looked like she was asleep comfortably and not stone cold unconscious. Now though, Will wanted her to wake up, because he really didn't want to carry her.

Exhausted from driving all day, he sighed and ran a hand over the side of his face out of habit, before he unclipped his seatbelt, opened his door and got out of the car. He stretched once he was standing, because after driving for so many hours his body felt cramped and stiff, and the stretch reminded him of the larger aches he'd been medicating when they pinched and throbbed all over mildly, making him grimace.

Will shrugged off the dull aches and shut his door before he walked around to the passenger side, opening the door and standing there for a moment looking down at Alana's unconscious form. The last part of the plan that he'd been aware of was that he and Chiyoh had to bring Alana and Margot to Hannibal at the church, and he honestly had no idea what would happen next.

He wondered if waking Alana would be going against whatever Hannibal had planned as he absently chewed the inside of his lip, wincing and stopping when it stung. Irritable and tired, Will just decided for himself that her being conscious wouldn't matter, it didn't matter to him at least, asleep or awake, her fate would be the same. But there was of course the fact that he didn't know if she would even be able to wake up if the drug still hadn't worn off enough. He figured there was a good chance she would though, it'd been a few hours already and having been drugged a good couple of times himself in the past, Will remembered that aside from some minor disorientation, he'd been fine.

He pushed the passenger door open all the way then and crouched down, first reaching across Alana's waist to unclip the seatbelt before he leaned back again and took Alana's bound hands in both of his, patting one of them firmly,

"Hey, Alana…time to wake up." he said quietly, and then wondered why the fuck he was keeping his voice down before he repeated, "Alana." more audibly, and patted the top of her hand a little harder. Her fingers twitched and her eyelids scrunched, but then she relaxed again and nothing else happened. So Will let go of her hands and instead placed his gloved hand on her shoulder, giving her a firm shake.

She twitched again, frowning slightly and Will quickly shook her a second time,

"Alana, hey, wake up." he repeated firmly, and he watched as her eyelids fluttered open and shut a few times, her eyes rolling around as she tried to find focus. Will shook her again and her head just lolled toward him as her eyes settled more or less open but she wasn't seeing anything.

She still wasn't conscious and when her eyes drifted shut again, Will sighed irritably,

"Hey, no, come o-ah fuck it…" he grumbled, because she just groaned softly and closed her eyes anyway.

Will stood up then and leaned over, taking her arm with one hand and pulling her forward so that he could slide his arm around her back to take on her weight. When he'd managed to lift her out of the car, she slumped against him, making quiet confused sobbing sounds.

"Christ." Will muttered, seeing no other options available to him in the end.

So he just picked her up bridal style and carried her limp, light form across the side yard of the church and around to the front entrance. He climbed the single stone step up to the partially open door and after nudging it open more with his foot, Will walked in sideways, careful not to bump Alana's hanging head against anything -out of standard politeness of course- and when he stepped inside the dimly fire lit church, Will saw Hannibal and Chiyoh standing at the front of the church at the same time as they looked at him.

There were several candles lit up on the table and floor around the alter of the small church, votive candles and normal pillar candles of different sizes, and the array of them were just about the only source of light, not doing the best job of illuminating the space. But then, even with the huge hole in the roof, while the skies were marginally clearer there than they had been further north, the moon still wasn't exactly luminous up in the sky either, so the candles had to suffice.

"Alana!" Margot, who Will hadn't even noticed, yelled her wife's name when she turned in her seat and saw Will carrying the still mostly unconscious brunette. Margot was sitting in the front most pew on the right side of the church, where the roof hadn't caved in, and she seemed quite alert considering she'd been just as drugged as Alana was.

"Set her down beside Margot, please, Will." Hannibal spoke then, his voice carrying throughout the small church as he gestured with his hand to where Margot sat. Will came down the center aisle slowly, careful not to trip on any of the wood and stone debris scattered across the creaky floor as he maneuvered himself to the front with Alana's burdening weight. Chiyoh was standing with her pistol in hand but it wasn't aimed at Margot, so she was probably only holding it just in case Margot or Alana tried anything.

When he reached the front, Will set Alana down sitting up on the pew with relative carefulness and tipped her body against Margot's when she reached out and gathered her semi-conscious wife up in her arms, sobbing her name and glancing miserably, _desperately_ , at Will before she pressed her face into Alana's hair.

It surprised Will that she –and Alana- still honestly thought he could help them, or that he even would. He sighed as he stood up straight, stepping away from the pair of women before he turned to look at Hannibal,  
"I tried to wake Alana up, but.." he trailed off, shrugging.

Hannibal nodded, calm as ever,

"It's no problem, I shall use a small dose of Romazicon to bring her out of sedation, just as I did for Margot." he informed as he stepped up the two steps, walking to the alter table where the black duffle bag that Chiyoh had given him earlier that day was set open. Will could see that there was a small unfolded drug case set open on the table with several already filled slots, and after Will walked up the steps and moved to stand beside Hannibal, he looked over what was tucked into it.

There were a few syringes with liquid in them as well as a few medicine vials, also there were alcohol pads and sealed needles and a few unlabeled different pill cases. Above the small unfolded drug case was Hannibal's large surgical instrument case, also laid open, and which was filled with shiny, sharp and pristinely kept surgical tools. Among all of the ones Will couldn't identify, he recognized the expected selection of scalpels, an electric bone saw –which he was uncomfortably familiar with-, as well as a manual bone cutter –ouch-, two different clamps, a few different sizes of forceps –for different organ removals-, a needle holder for assistance with fine stitches, three different surgical scissors, surgical needles and of course, sutures.

Will wasn't unfamiliar with Hannibal carrying his tools, after all, he did so for every murder he committed that Will had been witness to, and probably for the ones he hadn't. And that's how Will knew that what was laid out wasn't nearly everything Hannibal had,

"Where's the rest of your stuff?" he asked, leaning against the alter table as the older man slipped out one of the pre-prepared injections for Alana,

"I didn't bring all of it, it wasn't necessary to." he glanced at Will with a small smile.

That surprised Will, he'd expected Hannibal would have wanted to torture Alana, but apparently not, since he'd only brought his 'if there is an emergency' utensils and a few fun pieces here and there. Hannibal was particularly fond of his electric bone saw, which he'd let Will use on a few victims in the past three years, his reasoning being that Will should overcome his fear of the instrument.

It'd mostly worked.

Hannibal descended the steps once he'd uncapped and prepared the injection, and Will watched dispassionately as he walked over and stuck the needle none too gently into Alana's already bared neck, her head leaning on Margot's shoulder. Margot herself looked disheveled and stressed, wide eyed and afraid as she watched the liquid disappear into her wife's vein.

Chiyoh looked about the same as Will, but then, she always looked like that.

Alana came around very quickly once the Romazicon was in her blood stream, her eyelids fluttering open and eyes rolling into focus as Hannibal positioned her to sit upright, before he took her head into his hands and dipped his own head so that he could look into her face. Seemingly satisfied with her consciousness when she focused on him and groaned weakly, Margot breathing out her name softly, Hannibal let Alana's head fall back onto Margot's shoulder before he stood up straight and returned to the alter table where he carefully disposed of the needle, placing it into a compact sharps container.

Will was curiously watching the dazed brunette as she gradually came around properly, her breathing was increasing and she was frowning as she started to look around, trembling lightly as Margot continued to say her name while petting her face and hair, the younger woman grabbing Alana's lax bound hands with her own and squeezing as she quietly informed her of where they were…

Hannibal distracted Will from watching when he spoke,

"How are you feeling?" he asked very quietly, so that Will doubted even Chiyoh heard it.

Will turned to face him where he was still leaning against the alter table and he inhaled deeply, taking mental stock of himself as he slipped his fingers into his jeans pockets and raised his eyebrows,

"I'm fine. Tired…but fine." he responded just as quietly with a facial shrug.

Hannibal regarded him sidelong for a moment and then nodded, carrying on with arranging something in his medicine case and Will decided to ask then, since after a glance around the chilly, broken down church he didn't see Morgan,

"Where's the boy?"

Hannibal glanced at him and then looked behind them, to where Margot was crying softly as Alana finally came around, asking if Margot was okay with hushed, sobbed words.

His eyes drifted back to the table then,

"He's in the sacristy."

Will blinked, nodded and then glanced at the closed door off to the side of the alter before he frowned,

"Is he still unconscious?" he asked, because surely it had been too long.

"He woke…briefly." Hannibal supplied, eyes focused downward on what he was doing.

"You drugged him again?" Will asked softly with a slight grimace.

Hannibal finished what he was doing then and turned to face Will, wetting his lips before speaking,

"Would you rather he be awake?" he tipped his head in the direction of the distraught Verger couple.

Will was already shaking his head in response and he –unconsciously- stepped closer to Hannibal, an urge given into out of habit as he sought Hannibal's familiar and comfortable closeness,

"N-no, obviously, I just…" he took a breath and looked into Hannibal's face, only a hands distance from his own, their bodies close…and Will found he was wholly uninterested in the fact that they weren't alone right then, having long since overcome such shyness. "Did he ask anything when he woke up, did you at least attempt to placate him?" he asked quietly.

Hannibal watched him intently, probably hyperaware of their close proximity with Alana and Margot sitting nearby, and Will figured the older man was still concerned about him being able to back up his claim of being physically abused and coerced with Alana and Margot witnessing the way he was behaving toward Hannibal. He was technically putting holes in his own story with every inch closer that he moved.

But honestly, Will was no longer worried, as far as he was concerned they were in the clear, so there was no reason for him to play the victim anymore.

"I didn't allow him a moment of lucidity." Hannibal eventually answered, swallowing lightly and Will pursed his lips, his eyes tracking down over Hannibal's face to his slightly parted mouth, watching as Hannibal quietly said,

"Will…" in a tone of reminding, a tone that said 'don't forget our company, just wait a while longer'.

And Will could appreciate that Hannibal was so concerned for his wellbeing, for being paranoid on his behalf, but Will knew they would be fine because he had seen defeat in Alana earlier, before she'd been tranquillized, and he _knew_ they had her in checkmate. It was game over for her.

"Where the hell is Morgan?" Alana's voice interrupted Will's consideration of whether or not to kiss Hannibal and the older man unhurriedly slid his eyes away from Will to look at her,

"Hello, Alana." he greeted politely, "I am aware that rudeness is often a side effect of fear, but I had thought you and I at least had a mutual appreciation for civility, so I'm disappointed to find your manners lacking." he said without a hint of a smile, his voice smooth, his tone cold and his pupils black and lightless in the shadowy church.

" **Fuck you** , **Hannibal**." Alana said, crisply annunciating every word as her blue eyes burned with hatred, "Where is my son?" she asked through clenched teeth, her words only just slurred as her anger brought forth ugly lines in her face. Margot swallowed audibly but stayed quiet, and Will had to wonder if she'd even said a word to Hannibal since being woken up. He remembered that Margot had been chatty enough when she'd needed to be in the past, but she'd also always known when to keep quiet. It was probably due to self-conditioning from having lived with an abusive, twisted fucker of a brother.

Will knew that Hannibal wouldn't be impressed with Alana's behavior though, and when he looked at the older man to gauge his reaction, Will saw that his features were like stone. And his proximity to Hannibal right then actually gave him pause as his empathy elucidated the older man's present state of feeling. Hannibal looked neither amused nor bothered, in fact, his countenance was disturbingly impassive…but only on the surface. Because Will could practically _taste_ the older man's ire, it was like ash and metal on his tongue…and it felt like asphyxiation…violent, black and toxic.

Will lowered his eyes to the ground as the effect of Hannibal's violent anger –the likes of which Will had never even experienced when looking at the Ripper's victims- made him feel more than a little confused, because the presence of it both aroused and frightened him. He hadn't even known that Hannibal could still put fear into him…and he definitely hadn't expected to be turned on by it.

When Hannibal didn't answer her, Alana made a derisive sound and then turned her attention to Will,

"Will, where is he?" her tone wasn't much nicer for him, but it wasn't quite as hostile as it had been toward Hannibal, it made Will want to snort at how confused her survival instincts were. But he just raised his eyes to look at her and then glanced at Hannibal, considering whether to answer or just ignore her, but he didn't get a chance to decide because she gasped, "Oh my G-…Will, your neck…a-and your, oh God, your m-mouth…are those teeth marks?" she sounded _horrified_.

Will had a moment of wondering how in the fuck she could even see his bruises when it was so dark in the church, but then he realized he was standing at the alter where most of the lit candles were situated, and so it made his skin glow yellow-brown and probably made his bruises look like blackish blots stark against his skin.

"What the hell has he-…Hannibal, what have you been doing to him!?" she yelled, her voice breaking, blue eyes bright with disgust and tears. And Margot just sat quietly, frowning as she stared at Will in between glances at Hannibal, "Why are there bite marks on his mouth!?" Alana spat, " **God** …has he been, oh God, **Will** …" she sounded deeply distressed now, while Margot looked -surprisingly- the opposite.

Will glanced at Chiyoh, to find that she looked very pissed off now, instead of stoic, and he instantly knew it was because she didn't like the conclusions Alana and Margot were probably drawing, even though that had been the point.

"Will." Hannibal said, completely ignoring Alana as she breathed heavily and fumed, glaring at him with disgust. Will immediately turned to him, eyebrows raised in question. The older man reached into the black bag on the table and took out a small material trifold case, "Take Margot out to the cemetery behind the church, I leave the decision of how you end her life in your hands," he said plainly and Alana made a sound somewhere between a shout and sob while Margot remained quiet, "but in here are two possible options." he held the small case out to Will.

Will took it from him and peeled the velcro strap back before opening the folds and looking over the full syringe and the SOG knife tucked inside, his options for Margot being either a quick and painless death, or a slow and painful one. He closed the case again then and glanced at Margot, who looked tense but resigned, and really, she always had been quick to accept her fate as dictated by others rather easily, hadn't she?

It was a little sad actually.

Alana on the other hand was in full fight mode, and panicking for Margot, she stood up abruptly, looking as though she was going to come at Hannibal and himself. But when the click of a gun being made ready to fire cut through the silence, Alana barely took one step and stopped, turning to glare at Chiyoh as said woman leveled the weapon directly at the angry brunette,

"Sit down." Chiyoh said evenly.

Alana didn't sit –defiance burning in her eyes-, but she also didn't move from where she stood, instead she turned to look at Will and Hannibal again, and then Will specifically,

"Will." he was already looking at her so he didn't understand why she said his name, maybe because she needed to remind herself it was him? Or maybe because she thought he needed reminding? "Will." she said again, and he blinked twice before realizing she was trying to share some sort of meaningful eye contact with him, wordlessly asking him for help, to help Margot, maybe Morgan…something…something that he didn't care enough to try and properly interpret.

So he turned smoothly away from her, to look at Hannibal,

"The body?" he asked plainly and reveled just a little in the shocked gasping sound Alana made.

"Bury it, Chiyoh will bring the shovel to you." Hannibal answered, all traces of black anger gone as he tracked his eyes fondly over Will's face, he was clearly pleased.

"Two graves?"

"No, I will dig the other."

"No, I can do it." Will insisted lightly.

"Will-…" Hannibal's voice lowered, concerned.

"I'm fine." Will reassured just as quietly.

"It's a strenuous task." Hannibal persisted, apparently having forgotten Will was supposed to be his 'lackey'. Seriously, Will could practically hear Chiyoh rolling her eyes at their uselessly hushed conversation.

"I can dig two holes, Hannibal." Will was all too happy to drop the act though, because it meant he could stop holding his tongue and just speak normally, "How are you going to kill, Alana?" he let his mask slip completely and felt much better at being able to reach out with his free hand to slide it idly down from Hannibal's chest to his abdomen, over the smooth texture of his shirt.

It was an intimate touch that Will wanted Alana to witness, because she needed a fucking reality check.

And Hannibal gave in like a man starved, taking Will's hand in his own and bringing it to his mouth, where he pressed a firm kiss to Will's knuckles, his mouth curving into a dangerous smile afterward,

"Alana and I are going to have a talk first, and depending on how that goes, I will determine what I think is fitting." he sounded amused and Will raised an eyebrow before smiling at him,

"Right…well, have fun with that." he encouraged, glancing at Hannibal's layout of tools and meds and needles. And then, as casually as if it were any other day in their home in Spain, he leaned in and kissed Hannibal's mouth, once, twice and Hannibal leaned in properly for the third one, the couple sharing a deeper kiss with a visible sliver of tongue just before they drew back. Still smiling, Will licked his lips and then turned to look at Margot as he stepped down from the alter and walked over to her.

Alana was still standing, now staring wide eyed, looking repulsed and disbelieving at Will as he extended his gloved hand to Margot, who blinked her large, wet eyes unevenly at him. There was a tense beat where she just stared at his offered hand, but eventually she raised her bound hands to settle one into Will's upturned palm. With dignity, she allowed him to help her to her high heeled feet and when she was standing she took in an unsteady breath, blinking a few tears from her eyes while remaining composed and calm.

Alana though, was in the opposite state and she grabbed the younger woman's upper arm,

"Margot, wha-…?" but she fell silent when Margot looked at her sharply, making Alana tear up anew before Margot's face softened and the two women took a moment to wordlessly come to some kind of agreement.

Margot then surprised everyone when next, she looked up to the alter at Hannibal,

"Doctor Lecter…" she breathed out, because she'd never called him by his first name, and her voice was raw with stress, raspy and strained. Will looked at Hannibal then too, seeing the monster – **his** monster- standing against a backdrop of a damaged crucifix and glowing candles, his dark clothes indefinable, making his lean body appear as one long lithe, male form absorbed and bleeding into the flickering shadows, and his eyes too were shadowed from the light behind him as he looked down at them. The sight made Will regret that he couldn't paint or draw, or he could have recreated the image in order to show Hannibal exactly how he looked in that moment.

Nightmarish and demonic…and breathtaking.

"Yes, Margot?" Hannibal responded politely, his voice low and smooth.

Margot sniffed and looked up at him as she always had, not trusting, never trusting, but believing that he would be honest with her if she asked him to,

"You said…that you wouldn't hurt Morgan, you said…if we cooperate, he'll live, he'll be…fine?" she asked quietly, her voice wavy, eyes shining. There was a beat of silence before Hannibal answered,

"Yes."

"Do you p-promise?" she stuttered around a short shaken breath.

"Yes, Margot, I promise no harm will come to the boy so long as you and Alana have done nothing against what I instructed." he said sincerely, almost comfortingly, and Will felt relieved himself at hearing it again.

Margot nodded then and after taking another deep breath, she turned to look at Alana again, and for a few seconds they just stared at one another, Alana looking more distressed with each passing moment in the silent church. The candles snapped softly, the wind whistled sharply in through the narrow splits in the wood, the floors creaked and by the time Margot leaned in and kissed Alana, they were both crying in earnest.

Their kiss was the opposite of what Will's and Hannibal's had been. Margot's and Alana's was a sad, _goodbye, I love you_ kiss, whereas his and Hannibal's had been a victorious, _here's to us, I love you_ kiss.

And Will allowed them their parting intimacy, seeing no reason to deny them such a thing, and their kisses and whispered apologies –from Alana- and goodbyes –from Margot- lasted half a minute before they finally separated, Margot being the one to step away from Alana. They were both a mess, sniffing, hiccupping, their lipsticks faded, mascara running, eyes and cheeks puffy and wet…it was really tragic.

But Will remained unmoved, the darkness in him easily reducing the Verger couple to nothing more than _meat_ in his mind, and after giving Margot another few seconds to gather herself so she could walk steadily on her shaking legs, he placed his hand around her upper arm and tugged very lightly so she knew he was going to take her away and that she needed to walk with him.

She didn't hesitate or fuss, she simply turned away from Alana, her long elaborately curled and styled hair falling in a mess around her face as Will moved her to walk just ahead of him down the aisle. They were halfway to the doors when Will heard a third set of footsteps, and he glanced back, unsurprised to find Chiyoh following.

Behind her, Hannibal and Alana stood watching one another.

Will could only imagine how their conversation would end for Alana…and it made his heart race to do so.

* * *

Will walked slowly enough to accommodate Margot's high-heeled and shaken wobble over the uneven ground of the church yard. Chiyoh had gone in a different direction once they'd exited the church, likely to fetch the shovel for Will and he and Margot walked in silence for a minute, until just after they'd passed the cars parked in the side yard, that was when Margot turned back to briefly glance at him,

"I can't decide…whether to be sickened by you, or…to be in awe." she rasped out between sniffles, her tone quite neutral, if a bit sad.

Will looked at the back of her head impassively, watching her hair shift with the wind and bounce as she walked,

"Oh?" he decided to humor her, because like Hannibal, he didn't have anything against Margot, not really anyway.

They walked further, nearing the church's backyard, before she spoke again,

"When I first met…doctor Lecter," she sniffed, "I, as I'd assume of most women who ever came across him, thought that he was," she sighed mock-wistfully, "well, the closest thing to the perfect man." she was speaking in her usual unhurried manner, watching the ground as she walked carefully ahead of him. "A good-looking, thoroughbred European man, intelligent, sophisticated…accomplished, wealthy," she sniffed again and Will thought he heard a note of amusement in her voice, "I mean, yes, he's a little on the old side," she quipped, glancing back at him with a raised eyebrow before looking forward again, "but who would care when he's six feet tall and has that sexy accent, right? And to add to it, he's a man who knows his way around fine clothing and food, refine-…"

"Is there a point to this?" Will cut her off curtly, becoming annoyed, and she had the gall to laugh softly at him,

"…a man worth being jealous over," she glanced back at him, still sad, but _knowingly_ amused, "but don't worry, I don't judge you…" she sounded honest enough, "I mean, the serial killer, cannibal thing aside, Hannibal Lecter is a hell of a man."

Will frowned, had that been her point? To let him know that she _knew_ he was with Hannibal by choice?

Margot sniffed and said nothing for a while and Will didn't try to fill the silence either.

When they entered the cemetery, she spoke again,

"I suppose…that I should be sickened because of what he really is..." she said almost drolly, "…but then, when I saw how he looked at you in there," she glanced back at the church, Will, and then looked forward again, "I couldn't help thinking…that whatever it is that you have with him…is probably more genuine than what Alana and I have." she confessed with a sudden well of emotion in her tone.

And obviously Will agreed, she was absolutely right, but he wasn't going to be smug about it.

Instead he indulged her with his opinion,

"You and Alana are two of Hannibal's many shattered teacups…" he said quietly, realizing after he said it that Margot wouldn't know what he was talking about. But she wasn't stupid, and she seemed to more or less understand the metaphor, because she laughed softly again,

"And oh, how we tried to put one another back together…but you know…" she glanced at him again with lazily raised eyebrows and a red nose, "...missing pieces, cracked pieces, too much glue in some places…not enough glue in others…"

And yeah, Will understood what she was saying; she and Alana didn't completely understand each other, didn't totally confide in one another, they overcompensated in the wrong ways and were deficient where it really counted. She didn't need to actually say it for Will to hear it. He didn't have anything to say to her about that though, so he focused instead on the grass and rocks and the broken headstones he had to step past and around and over as they walked, also monitoring Margot's steps to make sure she wouldn't fall either.

"She killed for me…" Margot breathed out, sounding emotional again, and Will stopped when she did. Apparently she was done walking, since she moved to sit down on the crosspiece of a low cross headstone, sniffing with tears in her eyes as she looked at him, "…she killed my brother for me, and I love her." the corners of her mouth turned down slightly as she fought to control her emotions, "So why…why doesn't it feel as genuine…as _real_ as it should?" she stared imploringly at him, as if she believed he knew the answer.

And the thing was, Will _did_. But he didn't think it was something she really needed to hear right before she died.

"We've always been honest with each other," she said, and when he raised an eyebrow at her she managed a watery, sheepish smile, "well, except for that one time…but, to be fair," she tilted her head and rasped out, "I was in a really bad place." but it was said as a sort of apology, and Will could tell that she was truly sorry, after all, that little baby stunt had backfired on her something terrible.

She continued to stare at him then, both of them completely aware of the fact that Will was going to kill her, and she was fully conscious of her reality now, and no longer in doubt about who he was. She saw him clearly because he no longer walked around in a shroud of pretense and introversion, because she'd seen him stand proudly and comfortably at Hannibal's side. Yes, she could _see_ him now.

When she didn't seem like she would say anything else, Will kept his eyes on her and reopened the case Hannibal had given him, peeling the velcro back noisily before he unfolded the flaps and tilted the case so that the contents inside were visible to her. Margot only barely glanced at it before looking at his face again, swallowing tensely,

"Like he said," she cocked an eyebrow at him "it's your choice." she shrugged tiredly.

Raising his own eyebrows in a facial shrug, Will wet his lips -tasted Hannibal there- and then he trailed his fingers over the two items in the case. It wasn't all that difficult to make a choice though, and so without much preamble, he'd made his decision.

The next decision he made was a bit harder, deciding that he'd answer Margot's weighted question even though it would be something she probably would be better off never having to hear. But Will personally felt that dying with clarity was far better, especially for some people who valued the truth and sometimes needed it to be at peace. Will was one of those people…and maybe Margot was too. Why else would she have asked?

He walked up to her then and sat down on the other end of the crosspiece, their shoulders touching as they both just about fitted on the headstone cross. Will had been going to speak, but Margot beat him to it,

"I didn't know…about Hannibal's promise to her…" she said with a sad smile, staring into the distance, "…she only told me that night after she killed Mason."

"She killed Mason?" Will asked with raised eyebrows and glanced at her, surprised by that piece of information.

"More than I did." Margot blinked sedately and she and Will shared a queer smile, hers strained and Will's amused. He joined her in looking out over the dark landscape,

"And you still married her, Margot…even knowing that she was on Hannibal's shit list?" he asked quietly.

Margot just sighed,

"In for a penny…and all that…" she said lamely and shrugged again. Will pursed his lips and huffed out a laugh through his nose,

"Well, you did _need_ a surrogate mother that you could trust to carry your Verger baby." he knew that there had always been an agenda, Margot's agenda, Alana's agenda, everyone had always had a fucking agenda in the past. And, really, saying it out loud should have been cruel, but Margot just nodded slowly and hiked an eyebrow,

"Poor Margot, always someone's dependent." she sniffed and then looked down at the pack in Will's hands, "Not anymore though." she said quietly, almost in a whisper.

Will glanced down at the pack and then looked across the cemetery to the church, and that's when he saw Chiyoh approaching. Margot looked as well, and if she was curious about who Chiyoh was, she didn't show it, instead she just sighed again and wiped at her nose with her lightly shaking bound hands, looking at Will afterward,

"I think you're lucky, Will…" she sounded sincere, even as her eyes drifted to his bruised mouth and then his neck, "…after all, even the best relationships have problems, right? So, of course, the complicated ones should too…" she tilted her head and looked at him, her sad forest green eyes locking with his unreadable sea green, "I mean, if you can forgive doctor Lecter for… _whatever_ he does to you, then I can forgive Alana for doing _this_ to us." she sounded pensive about it.

Chiyoh had come up to them by that point and she openly glared at Will when she heard what Margot had said. And Will just barely managed to catch the shovel by the bar when she tossed it at him abruptly, narrowing her eyes sharply in anger before turning on her heel and walking away again.

Margot noticed the obvious tension between them and raised a curious eyebrow at Will.

Pointedly ignoring her look, Will stood up and walked a few steps away to another headstone, where he leaned the shovel against it and after he'd slipped his choice of murder weapon out of the pack, he folding it closed again and placed it on the headstone. He was hyperaware of Margot's presence all the while, but she made no move to run or attack, even with his back to her. Clever girl, she knew it would be futile.

Will was ready to put her out of her misery then, but he decided to clear one thing up first,

"Hannibal doesn't **do anything** to me." he felt like he needed to set the record straight on that.

Margot sniffed behind him,

"Oh? So the sex is just… _that_ rough?" she sounded sleepy, exhausted probably.

Will turned to face her and ignored her question, choosing to explain as simply as he could,

"These marks were made _only_ as a precaution." he said evenly, approaching her and showing her what he had in his hand so she could prepare herself. And after she looked at it and swallowed tensely, she smiled shakily,

"You mean…in case we brought the police and you got caught?" she raised an eyebrow just slightly as she started to tremble anew.

"Yes." Will stopped just in front of her, toe to toe, looking down at her. She raised her eyebrows while staring at his stomach,

"Wow…so he would…he would let you tell the world that he was…raping you, all these years," her eyes were watering, "just so that you could claim to be his…victim?" she asked in a strained voice, trying to ascertain whether she understood correctly.

Will knew that it was the teeth marks on his mouth that raised the assumption of rape for her, as it had for Alana. Strangulation marks were one thing, but the rather specific bruising on his mouth implied a whole other thing. Of course, Margot and Alana had no idea just how far he and Hannibal had actually gone to make it look real…and he was glad they never would.

"Yes." he answered plainly, a touch of a smile on his bruised lips.

Margot blinked a few tears out of her eyes, her eyebrows rising before her expression settled on misery,

"Awe." she whispered and slowly licked her dry lips. Will frowned slightly, waiting for elaboration and she took a shaky breath before explaining, "I've decided that I'm…in awe. You've made a masterpiece into a mess…just for you…" she trailed off as she weakly clapped her bounds hands.

Will gave her words a brief moment of thought, and decided that yes, Hannibal was a mess for him. But it was an entirely mutual situation, so rather than calling it a mess, Will thought of their relationship as more of a…flawed work of art.

He stared at the tears sliding over her pale cheeks and when she glanced up at him, he decided to ask,

"Do you still want to know the difference…" he offered and she looked up at him properly, "…the reason why what I have with Hannibal is real?" it was up to her, he wouldn't say anything if she'd rather die without knowing.

Margot swallowed audibly, her hair shifting with the cool breeze that passed over them as she nodded.

Will looked straight into her watery green eyes when he explained it to her,

"It's because Alana was broken, she had nothing concrete left, and you gave her _everything_ , but in the end, she still has power over you, while you don't have any over her." he said quietly, reaching a hand up to gently move Margot's hair away from her shoulder and neck, "But Hannibal…" he smiled crookedly, "…after I endured everything he put me through, Hannibal gave up _everything_ for me, and while he has power over me, I have just as much over him…we're equals Margot, Hannibal and I, and **that's** the difference." and after what he'd felt and sensed in Hannibal the previous morning, Will _knew_ he was right. He knew Hannibal would die for him if it ever came to that, and Will himself knew that he would rather face death than turn on Hannibal.

And Will was perfectly **happy** with that, he knew that he would always –over and over again and forever- want to be tied up in the blood soaked, silken bounds of Hannibal's version of love, more than content to just stay that way, to just stay with Hannibal, to be Hannibal's everything, to be safe and dry in the eye of the storm that was Hannibal Lecter.

Margot cried fresh tears as Will's words sunk in, and he blinked placidly down at her as he raised the needle and removed the cap, her eyes tracking his movements,

"Alana chose you because you were vulnerable, and then she used you, Margot. But Hannibal chose me…because he wanted to see my true colors and now, now he _needs_ me." he added quietly, watching her cry some more.

Blinking streams of tears from her eyes, Margot tilted her head to the side…and it was as simple as that. Will brought the syringe up to her neck and held her jaw lightly with his other hand, taking a moment to squint through the moderate dark before he pricked her skin with the needle and aspirated the syringe, seeing wispy tendrils of her blood slipping into the clear liquid and then injecting and watching the drug disappear into her vein.

When he removed the needle, Margot croaked out,

"What is it?" but it was more of a sob when she asked, "Poison?" and touched the side of her neck with shaking fingers. Will walked away from her to the other headstone, where he recapped the needle and slid it back into the case, knowing Hannibal would dispose of it later, and he only answered her when he'd folded the case up,

"I doubt it, it's more likely an overdose of some barbiturate…so you won't feel anything." he turned to face her then, and noticed that she actually looked relieved, even though she was swallowing convulsively and breathing a little tensely, probably already feeling the effects of the drug.

He folded his arms over his chest as he walked over to her, stopping to stand a foot away and considering her as her breathing became deeper and shorter and she was starting to frown as her eyelids became heavier. Will knew it was because she could feel unconsciousness rushing up on her and she knew that once she went under, she would never wake up again.

"Lo-…look…after…Mor-gan, Will." she said unexpectedly, her speech slow and breathy as she weakly tried to reach out to him with her bound hands, and Will saw that she was going to fall even before she could realize it. So he stepped forward quickly and caught her, slowly lowering her to the ground and getting onto his knees at her side as he laid her down on the cold grass and soil. Will saw more and more tears running from her glossy and drooping eyes as her breathing became more stilted, "…ple-ease…" she barely managed to say.

Will didn't say anything to reassure her as he stared down at her, because within the next few seconds she slipped into a coma, which he knew would only last for a short while before her heart would stop completely. So it didn't matter what he said at that point because she wouldn't hear it. And anyway, he couldn't reassure her of that, because he had no idea where Morgan would end up when Hannibal was done with him. It was out of his hands.

He knew Hannibal would keep the boy for a while in order to tamper with his memory, but aside from that, Will really had no clue what plans Hannibal had for Morgan. Perhaps he'd just give the responsibility of dealing with the boy to Chiyoh? Will swallowed sorely as he thought about it, but he had to remind himself again that Morgan was not his responsibility, was not his to care about…or it'd just be Abigail and Walter all over again.

He couldn't get attached. He **wouldn't**.

Will clenched his jaw a few times as he knelt there and gave Margot time to die, pushing thoughts of a dead surrogate daughter and a nearly dead step-son out of his mind with ease after so many years, and after a few minutes he leaned over Margot, putting his ear near her mouth and nose to listen and feel for breath.

But there wasn't either. She was gone.

He stood up then and dusted off his knees before he glanced at the shovel, knowing he was in for some hard work. Will had never dug a grave before –obviously-, but he could guess it wasn't easy. So just to be on the safe side, he extracted the container of Tramadol from his jeans pocket and after dry swallowing two pills, he removed his leather jacket and tossed it over the headstone where the folded case was, and choosing to keep his leather gloves on, he then picked up the shovel.

It took him a minute to find a good, relatively soft spot to dig, and once he did, Will set into it.

* * *

 _Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 3.42 AM_

Will was fucking _exhausted_. Hannibal had not been bullshitting when he'd said digging a grave was _strenuous_. In fact, it was a hell of an understatement. Will had just about hollowed out the grave he'd been digging to an estimated six feet deep, as well as it being more or less long enough to accommodate Margot's height, and so that was good. But the problem was that he absolutely could fucking **not** dig another one.

As it was, he was hurting in places he hadn't wanted to remember were hurt in the first damn place, and he'd already taken an additional two pills for the pain and was feeling quite nauseous and dehydrated. The worst part was knowing that what he felt right then was nothing compared to what he'd be feeling after he'd slept off the exhaustion. It was always worse the next day.

Presently, he was sitting at the side of the grave he'd just dug when he noticed lights coming on in the distance, and he immediately looked across the cemetery yard to see that one of the cars headlights were on and that it was being driven away from the church site. He frowned in curiosity, but honestly wasn't concerned, and with the cool breeze catching the sweat on his neck and face and ruffling his damp hair, Will pushed himself to his feet. His first few steps around the hole in the ground were unsteady since his legs were stiff, but as he walked over to Margot's body his gait eventually evened out.

Will had identified the headlights as belonging to the Renault, and he could guess it was Chiyoh who'd left, probably to go and do something Hannibal had told her to. But whatever, he didn't care, Chiyoh being gone was a good thing, seeing as how she was just an additional pain to what he was already feeling in his ass.

Sighing irritably, Will leaned over at Margot's feet and grabbed her ankles before he started dragging her body over to the open grave. And he didn't feel bad about it, not even when he'd lined her up with the hole and unceremoniously rolled her over the edge so that she fell into the dark pit, where he could just about see her at the bottom. Because she was dead, just another corpse like the hundreds he'd seen in his lifetime. He was well past the point of caring.

He stood for a moment then, catching his breath with his leather gloved hands on his hips and his shirt clinging to his upper body everywhere because of his damp skin underneath. He was considering the idea of just throwing Alana's body in on top of Margot's, because why not? That place was in the middle of fucking nowhere, abandoned and creepy as shit, the graveyard was run down and falling apart, so no one would come by anytime soon to visit. Surely one grave would be sufficient?

Will certainly thought so, and he decided it might almost be _kind_ to bury them together.

The smirk on his face was one of amusement and it lingered as he pulled the dirty leather gloves off his sweaty hands before he walked over to the headstone, grabbed his jacket and the folded pack and then started to make his way back to the church. He knew he more than likely had some dirt on his face since he had a fair amount on his clothes, and there was definitely soil caked into the soles of his boots, but there was nothing he could do about all that. He just really couldn't wait to take a shower.

' _Soon enough…it's almost over_.' he reminded himself as he trudged out of the cemetery.

Will walked through the side yard and stopped at the Mercedes, pulling the back door open so he could toss his jacket in, followed by the folded pack. The gloves he tucked into his back pocket, because he figured he'd need them when the time came to shovel and pack the dirt over Alana and Margot's bodies. He shut the door again then and as he walked around to the front of the church, he slipped his cellphone out and checked his messages, seeing a text from Isa which he'd received a little after 8PM the previous evening. He read it quickly and then put his phone away as he walked up the steps to the door, deciding to answer it later.

The church doors were closed that time, so he opened one and pushed it in without hesitation, stepping inside and closing it behind him while casting a glance around the dark interior. It was even less lit in the church with the candles burning down and as Will walked down the debris cluttered aisle, his eyes fell on Alana, and he raised his eyebrows at the fact that she was still alive and moreover, she didn't appear to be wounded in any way.

She was, however, completely naked and shivering like a leaf where she sat on the steps of the alter, just below the lectern. Will slowed his pace as he neared the front of the church, looking more closely over her huddled form, and from what he could make out of her, she was in fact unharmed.

She was just sitting there and shaking, with her head bowed as she sobbed and clutched at…something.

Will could tell it was a piece of clothing she was holding on to, and he thought maybe she was using it to cover up her nudity, but he wasn't sure. He wanted to scrutinize the scene better, but it was difficult to see and he was more interested in where Hannibal was and why Alana wasn't dead yet. It was really fucking late –or early rather- and Will just wanted to be done so they could go home.

He glanced around the church again and called out loudly,

"Hannibal?"

"Will!" Alana's head snapped up immediately, and when Will looked at her again, he took a step back in slight alarm when he saw her face, his breath catching and his heart rate picking up a few paces at the unsettling sight of her hollow eye sockets and the bloody drip stains over her cheeks and smeared on her neck.

It came to Will almost absently, his empathy providing him with the reasoning behind what he was seeing as he took in the disturbing scene; _Hannibal removed her eyes to make her blind, as he'd once worked so hard to do in order to spare her his wrath, but she hadn't appreciated it, instead she'd chosen to go against him, sealing her fate._

He took a few deep breaths and calmed down fairly quickly, his initial shock having been about the same as when he'd discovered Mason Verger sitting in his living room feeding cuts of his face to his dogs. It really was about the same, in fact, Alana's condition was _less_ disturbing to look at.

"Will…WillWillWill…" Alana was muttering brokenly, rocking back and forth in between staring up at a point to the side of where he stood and back to whatever clothing she was clutching to her chest.

Will took a step closer and looked at her again, seeing that she was pale to the point of being unwell. And being naked, he could see the scars on her legs, some of them standing out starkly against her pallid flesh, but the thing he took most notice of was that her eyes had been _surgically_ removed, not gouged out. And also, she didn't seem to be in any pain at all, and since Will hadn't heard screaming when he'd been out in the yard, he had to assume Hannibal had given her something really strong for the pain before he'd removed her eyes, because she seemed completely unfazed by her blindness, discounting the fact that she was generally quite distraught.

And upon closer inspection, he realized that she held no concern for the fact that she was naked either, because even while she was holding the piece of clothing to her chest, she wasn't actually concealing anything.

Will stepped back then and glanced around again,

"Hannibal?!" he said louder than before.

Alana had been muttering and blubbering about something the entire time, but when she heard Will's voice again she yelled his name a second time and moved to stand up, her dark painted toes pressing into the floor as she tried to navigate the few steps down to him. But she tripped and stumbled down, and Will flinched when she fell hard on her knees and then her elbows, hitting her cheek on the wooden floor since she refused to let go of the clothing she held, and so hadn't really done much to catch her fall.

And Will wouldn't help her...because he really just couldn't. It was all part of Hannibal's punishment for her, her being naked and stumbling and crying and being pathetic was part of Hannibal's design; _she deserves indignity, but only so that Will could see, just as Will had witnessed Hannibal in his cell, like an animal locked in a bare cage, where Alana had lorded her power over him. Now she would crawl, reduced to nothing by Hannibal's doing…and Will would see her at her lowest._

Alana didn't give up though, and sobbing loudly, trembling violently, she got up on one hand and her bruised knees and she knelt where she was, just feet from him as she held out the clothing she'd been clutching all along. And the words that would make Will's blood run cold, fell from her mouth in a scream,

"He killed Morgan! Will, he killed my son!" her voice rung out through the church, hoarse and devastated.

And Will felt the rawness of it as a deep, _**deep**_ ache in his chest that made his head spin and his heart clench.

Had he heard her right?

He dropped his eyes from her red mouth, smeared with tears, blood and lipstick, to look at her hand and the piece of clothing she was holding out to him in a white knuckled grip.

It was a jacket…a little boy's school jacket…and there was blood on it, a lot of blood…but there were no wounds on Alana's hands…blood on her chest…but no wounds there either…just blood **all** **over** the jacket…

The sacristy door to Will's left opened then and –trembling ever so slightly- he tore his eyes away from the bloody jacket to look at Hannibal, who looked to be the picture of composure. There was not a speck of visible blood on him and calmly, so _calmly_ , he closed the door behind him and set his shark-like black eyes on Will's wide, confused and stunned pair.

Will heard Alana hysterically mutter something about _cutting_ and _Morgan's throat_ …and that Hannibal was _a liar_ and _a_ _monster_. Morgan's name was repeated several times in between more sobs and accusations. Every word broken and drenched in her pain as she mumbled about _devils_ and _sickness_ and _promises_ …and the words stuck in Will's throat as if he'd swallowed glass, almost as if he was the one speaking them and they were tearing up his throat. And all the while he couldn't breathe properly and Alana sobbed desperately and half incoherently...

….but Will understood her broken cries with crystal clarity.

Hannibal had killed Morgan, he'd slit the boy's throat.

There was a nauseating, distressing and abysmal mixture of feelings gathering inside Will right then as he stared at Hannibal and his lips parted, even as he could find no words to say to the older man. His breathing was too strained, his face twitching between confusion and anger and hurt, his eyes burning with tears…his throat closing up…he felt sick…and sore…so fucking sore…

…Morgan had only been five years old. Just five.

"He killed…my…baby…Will…" Alana was practically mumbling now, her voice almost gone as she continued rocking and sobbing and shivering…but in there somewhere in her muttering, at length as he stood staring at Hannibal's dark, lithe figure, he heard Alana breath out the words _**kill him**_ _Will, he killed_ _Morgan, just like he killed_ _ **Abigail**_.

Will swallowed sorely, his vision swimming and fists clenching.

God…what was he supposed to do?

Hannibal had heard her too, and his eyes remained fixed on Will, his voice even and smooth as he said,

"What happened to Morgan, had to happen. There was no other way." and he said it slowly and calmly, as if those few words explained everything somehow, as if they explained away the death…the cold, callous murder of an _innocent_ little boy.

"Ha…Han…" Will tried, but was unable to even say the man's name, the name of the man he _loved_ so, so much, the man who'd _lied_ to him, who'd just killed Morgan when it had been _all_ Will had asked him _not_ to do.

And Will didn't understand **why**? Even his empathy failed him right then…he just couldn't understand why Hannibal would do it…

And had Chiyoh known? Is that why'd she'd left? Because she hadn't wanted to see…to hear…to know…?

It just didn't make sense, it didn't fit…but then, Hannibal had had Morgan for the better part of the day, and Hannibal had known how long it'd take to dig a grave, and Hannibal had told Will that Morgan was in the sacristy, but had claimed to be keeping him drugged…so maybe…maybe, _maybe_ he'd said that so that Will wouldn't **look** …

"Will…" Hannibal's intimate tone further arrested Will's ability to breath and he had to remember to choke one in sorely, his entire body flashing between hot and cold and rigid and weak as Hannibal approached him, stopping just two feet away, "…there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

What? _What_ … **what**?

Will frowned deeply, shaking more and more with every passing second and he started to shake his head then, as it dawned on him, as Hannibal slowly…gracefully, got down onto one knee before him. And Will clenched his teeth together so tightly it hurt as he started to cry earnestly, his face contorting into so many kinds of pain and anger and love and elation.

It wasn't right…but what wasn't right? That in that moment he felt horrible, or that he felt **happy**?

Hannibal raised his hand then, holding the ring box…that damnable red cherry wood box with its reflective exterior and **oh Jesus fuck** , it looked so fucking perfect perched and offered to Will at the fingertips of Hannibal's slender, elegant hand. And it looked even better as Hannibal brought his other hand up and carefully opened the lid, revealing the ring kept inside that Will already knew fit his finger _perfectly_ …

…and it glinted just barely, but still alluringly, in the dim light.

"H-Hannibal…" Will choked out, confused, hurt…and _painfully_ _in love_.

"Will…" Alana sobbed, confused and desperate and _blind_.

"…marry me, Will…?" and so came the question Will had been waiting so anticipatorily for –followed by Alana's shocked, strangled gasp. And Hannibal's tone when he asked was perfectly sentimental and desperately hopeful and he swallowed _nervously_ as he looked up at Will lovingly. It was almost everything Will had wanted it to be, with Hannibal down on one knee, reverent and vulnerable and at Will's mercy… **the** Hannibal Lecter, at Will's mercy…but still, it was only _almost_ perfect, because there was never meant to have been a dead five year old in the picture.

Will watched through watery eyes as Hannibal's adams apple bobbed, another nervous swallow that he could see even through the dim light, and as the moment dragged on without an answer from Will, he saw something else much clearer settle into Hannibal's face…and it was that fucking **doubt**.

After everything, after all that Will had suffered in the past and accepted and lost and forgiven and shared in and partook of that night, after **all** of it, Hannibal _still_ doubted him.

It was so fucked up. That night was supposed to have alleviated that doubt in Hannibal, finally killing Margot and Alana was supposed to have closed the mistrustful chapter of their relationship. But instead Will stood unable to make a decision, while Hannibal was down on one knee asking for his hand in marriage and was not getting an answer for his trouble.

' _Why did he…what do…I…?'_ Will swallowed sorely, frowning sadly and clenching his teeth as he tried to understand, tried to figure out why Hannibal would kill Morgan and then ask to marry him right after…wh-…wait… _wait…_ fuck… **fuck** …it was a **test**.

A stream of desperate _no's_ didn't make it past Will's lips, but ran through his mind and caused tears to slip from his eyes when he realized that Hannibal had killed Morgan to _**test**_ whether Will would still choose him. He nearly shook his head again in disbelief, his stomach roiling with nausea, but he caught himself before he did…because if he shook his head, then he'd be saying **no** to Hannibal.

And he couldn't say no, because **he loved Hannibal**. But how could he say yes when he was sick to his stomach?

Could he ask for some time?

Will's mouth fell open, his breath coming out shaken and for a few seconds he stared down at Hannibal without blinking, his mouth slowly closing again as he _looked_ at the man…at the monster, that he'd fallen in love with, with his eyes as wide open as they'd ever be.

Hannibal was looking colder and more distant for every second that went by that Will didn't answer him…

"Will…Will, are…are you still here?" Alana asked, her voice tremulous and raw.

Hannibal's eyes lowered then, his jaw clenching as he clutched his hand tightly around the box.

And Will felt as if it was his heart being strangled in Hannibal's hand as he breathed out,

"…yes…" his voice quiet and strained, his body shaking like it hadn't in years.

Alana looked relieved.

And Hannibal exhaled slowly as he went to snap the box shut, but before he could, Will sobbed,

"… **yes** , I'll m-marry you, Han-Hannibal…" he sobbed again, as hurt as he was happy by that point.

It just wasn't fair…it wasn't fair that a little boy had to die for Will to prove his love.

' _ **Jesus christ**_ _…how am I going to live with myself?!'_ his mind screamed at him at the same time as Hannibal looked up at him with wide black eyes and Alana breathed out a distressed sound of disgust.

Hannibal smiled then, a sweet and real little thing and Will honestly couldn't help smiling back even as tears slipped from his eyes. He raised his left hand when Hannibal removed the engagement ring from the box, and after placing the box on the floor beside his knee, Hannibal took Will's trembling hand, steadied it in his firm, warm grip, and brushed his thumb over Will's ring finger before he brought the ring to Will's hand with his other…and carefully, and so tenderly, he slid it on.

Will sobbed again as the cool metal settled against his skin. He doubted he'd ever sleep peacefully again…but at least…at least…he had Hannibal. Hannibal who kissed the ring and then Will's knuckles and fingers, Hannibal who was smiling the smile of a man in love, a happy man adoringly caressing Will's hand with his own.

Hannibal who stood up then and took Will's face in his hands and kissed his mouth, once and twice and again, despite Will's sobs and the saltiness of his tears clinging to his lips…Hannibal…

"…oh _God_ …Jesus…Christ…help-help me… **help me!** " Alana suddenly began to scream, possibly because she'd heard the soft smacks of their kisses. And it was a pitiful, hoarse sound that tore from her throat as she started to crawl away from them, back towards the alter…still clutching Morgan's jacket.

Hannibal slowly drew back from the sweet lip to lip kisses he'd been pressing to Will's mouth and his features turned from adoring, _worshipping_ , to deadly and vicious the second he slid his eyes to Alana's crawling figure.

Will barely even registered Hannibal walking away from him, barely registered the tiny little weight of engagement and commitment on his finger, barely registered Alana's frightened cries of ' _no_ ' and ' _let me go_ ', didn't even look when he heard the quick snap and click of her neck being broken or the fump of her body falling limp on the wooden floor.

He just let out a soft wheezing sound and stood numb, staring at the sacristy door.

Somewhere in his mind he heard 'Will Graham of Old' whisper to him, asking him if he was happy now.

And he shook his head numbly and breathed out a quiet,

"…n-no."

"Will?" Hannibal's voice made him blink but he didn't look at the other man, instead he just choked out,

"Why…wh-why…Hannibal…you said…" his voice was strained, shaken and it hurt to speak with all of the pain like glass cutting up his throat, "…y-you said th-that you wouldn't, n-not the boy…not him…" he felt fresh tears leave his eyes, the sacristy door becoming a shadowy blur.

And he was so, _so_ tired, and he just wanted to lie down and curl up…just curl up and maybe…maybe die…

At least he'd die engaged to Hannibal.

"Will…?" Hannibal repeated his name as a question, coming closer.

Will heard his footsteps and then felt the warmth of his presence when Hannibal stepped in front of him, standing close. And Will could smell his cologne and feel his breaths and he wanted to lean into the older man, to be held and kissed and comforted…but his stomach was twisting itself into knots and Hannibal was frowning at him, "…Will, what-…"

" **Why** …?" Will cut Hannibal off and finally looked at him, directly into his face, his green-blue eyes alight with betrayal and shining with tears, and this time there was _anger_ too, because Morgan had been _innocent_ , where Abigail had not, "…why did you kill him, Hannibal?"

Hannibal's gaze intensified then as the older man stared at him, his eyes still black in the shadowy church but there was the dawning of shock in his face, shock that slowly morphed into stark disbelief,

"Neįmanomas..." ( _Impossible..._ ) he breathed out, and Will gave him an irritable look,

" **What**? Speak English… _dammit_ …" he grit out, glaring at Hannibal.

"You said… _yes_." Hannibal breathed out, sounding as astonished as if Will had just proved to him that magic was real and Will was a genie. He seriously sounded like he was experiencing some kind of wonderment or life changing epiphany, and Will couldn't fucking understand what reason the man had to be so damn excited while he was just hurting _**all**_ over.

Frustrated and emotionally drained, Will tried to shove Hannibal away to put some distance between them, but Hannibal reached out and grabbed him, sliding his arms around Will's back and pulling him closer. Hannibal gathered him up as if he were invaluably precious as the older man pressed a reverent, soft kiss to his mouth and then buried his face into Will's sweaty hair, enclosing his arms around Will and clutching him tightly and close, almost desperately.

Will broke down then and cried…because that was exactly where he wanted to be, right there in Hannibal's arms, even though the man had killed a little boy…because of him.

"Will…always… _always_...you will amaze me…" Hannibal breathed out against his hair, his tone still laced with wonderment. Will just gave in to the feeling of Hannibal's closeness and the adoring sound of his voice, and he slid his arms around the older man, clinging to him and crying into his neck.

And Will was content to stay right there, tucked in the older man's arms, but Hannibal pulled back and despite Will's groan, Hannibal took his face into his hands and pulled him back so that they could look at one another, Hannibal holding Will's face gently as he initiated and held eye contact.

Will made himself look into those black eyes, and Hannibal's gaze was adoring while Will's was devastated.

"My love…" Hannibal said in crisp, accented English and Will sobbed because it made his stomach flutter pleasantly to hear it, the sensation contending with his nausea, "…Morgan is alive." Hannibal whispered, so softly, so sweetly.

And for a moment everything around Will, besides Hannibal, seemed to fall away…and he didn't understand.

He shook his head as much as he could with Hannibal holding his face,

"N-no…you-you sa-said…he…" Will tried to get the rest of his denial out but his head was starting to spin again and his breathing was elevating with shaken anxiety. He swallowed sorely then and frowned, looking with desperate confusion into Hannibal's-…into his fiancés, face as he recalled Hannibal's words.

 **What happened to Morgan, had to happen. There was no other way.**

He'd said that, Hannibal had said…

' _What happened to…'_ Will frowned deeper, his hands clutching at Hannibal's shirt as it dawned on him that those words were familiar, that Hannibal had said them to him before, _'…what happened to…what…happened to…Morgan-…no, no…what happened to…to Abigail…'_ Will exhaled harshly with shock and relief, his eyes tearing anew as he searched Hannibal's expression desperately and only saw truth and love and promises kept, _'…what happened to Abigail, had to happen. There was no other way.'_

Hannibal had said almost those exact words to him before, so many years ago when they'd been sitting in his office in Baltimore, discussing Margot's pregnancy and Mischa, and when Will had asked why Hannibal had killed Abigail, he'd said those words as his answer…but Abigail…Abigail hadn't been dead.

And so Morgan…he wasn't dead either.

Hannibal had had to fake Morgan's death, just as he'd had to fake Abigail's.

But why?

Hannibal had faked Abigail's death to make Will _see_ himself, to force the awakening of anger and wrath and darkness in him. But with Morgan…Hannibal seemed surprised that Will even thought that he was dead in the first place, and moreover, he seemed amazed that Will had said yes to marrying him while believing the boy was dead.

And well…Will was amazed with himself about that too.

But he couldn't puzzle it out right then, the finer details, the deeper reasoning, because he was too tired and too emotionally rung out. Especially as he felt all of his tension, his nausea, his hurt, his fear, his misery…all of it, just drain away, to be replaced with all of the elation and bliss that he'd wanted to feel when Hannibal had proposed.

Will felt it then though, now that he knew Morgan was _alive_.

And his mouth stretched into a genuinely happy smile, and he felt his chest warm with affection and joy, his lungs expanding as he took in a deep and shaky but relieved breath. His tears lingered, but the new wetness was caused by the excitement and happiness he felt, and he laughed once, a soft and watery sound, before he leaned in and kissed Hannibal.

Just their lips at first and briefly, before their mouths parted, their tongues immediately touching and Will moaned softly when Hannibal quickly deepened the kiss, the older man inhaling through his nose as he slid his tongue into Will's mouth deftly and possessively. And Will did likewise, sliding his tongue across the space of their parted mouths and lapping against Hannibal's tongue eagerly and wetly, both of them enjoying the taste of one another as they had so many times before…and would continue to, for the rest of their lives.

Til' death did them part.

* * *

Thanks for reading. In the next chapter Will gets a little fluff and stuff.  
Please leave your thoughts :)


	5. And I'll Stay Yours

A/N: So, this ended up being pretty long as well. Sorry.

\- Not beta read, sorry for any mistakes.

* * *

There is no sweeter pleasure than to surprise a man by giving him more than he hopes for.

-Charles Baudelaire

* * *

 _Italy, Grosseto - Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 5.59 AM_

It turned out that Chiyoh had taken Morgan away at the time when Will had seen the Renault leaving. Hannibal had only told Alana that he'd killed Morgan after the boy had already been out of the church, because apparently Morgan's second sedation had been near the point where it would have gradually slipped into normal sleep, and Alana's sobbing voice and shouts would have definitely woken him.

Hannibal hadn't wanted to sedate the boy again, so he'd told Chiyoh to leave with him and go home to Livorno.

Will had been concerned about how Chiyoh would deal with the boy waking up confused and distressed, looking for his parents, but Hannibal had just assured him that it was under control. And Hannibal was nothing if not always in control, so he trusted the older man's words, as he always did, and he and Hannibal had proceeded to carry Alana's body from the church, along with the clothes she'd been wearing, out to the grave where Margot's body was.

Hannibal hadn't had a problem with there being just one grave, and after he'd pushed Alana's body into it and then tossed in her clothes after, Will had sat by and watched Hannibal shovel in the sand to fill the hole.

As he'd watched Hannibal bury the bodies, Will made another mental note –yet again- to find out what Hannibal had done with Bedelia's body, had he buried it? Something told Will it was unlikely.

As it was, Hannibal had told him –while he'd been filling in the grave- that burying the Verger couple had been the quickest and least hassling method of getting rid of them. He'd apparently had no interest in eating Margot or Alana at all, the former because Hannibal had actually been fond of her and had felt she deserved to die whole –or at least mostly considering what Mason had done to her-. And Alana, because despite the fact that Hannibal no longer saw her as anything but a pig –especially after her uncouth behavior that night- Hannibal's reasoning had been; "She'll undoubtedly taste awful, she's been marinating in her bitterness and misery for too many years. Even I would not be able to salvage that in my kitchen."

Will had laughed and Hannibal had smiled…and then he'd stopped shoveling to go over and kiss Will's smile with his own. A while later, after the grave was filled in and they'd patted the sand down, he and Hannibal stomped over it for a while and then grabbed some grass and weeds and fallen branches and pieces of stone and together they'd made it look as inconspicuous as possible. But with time, nature would settle it properly.

The entire cleanup, including making sure there was no evidence of them having ever been inside the church, took about two hours, and then finally it was done and they could head home. They'd both been exhausted, and Will had been grateful when Hannibal had retrieved a six pack of Red Bulls from the backseat floor of the Mercedes. It had been intended for the drive back, which wouldn't be too long, a little under two hours, but being as tired as they were it was definitely needed.

After they'd downed two Red Bulls each –Will taking another two Tramadol with his-, they kept a third can each for the road. And taking a moment in the aftermath of a long day, the newly engaged couple shared a few more kisses, some smiling and sweet, and some heated and deep as they stood together in the churchyard, Hannibal leaning against the car and Will leaning against him. When they finally drew apart a few minutes later, Will sighed an _I love you_ and Hannibal smiled tenderly and asked him to _drive carefully_ before they parted ways, Will taking the SUV and Hannibal the Mercedes.

* * *

It was about twenty something minutes into the drive home, with Hannibal's car visible in the distance via the rearview mirror, while Will had been replaying the evening's events in his mind, that he finally clicked, Hannibal's design regarding Morgan almost subconsciously sliding into place, and it was so _obvious_ to him then.

Hannibal had told Alana that Morgan was dead for two reasons;

Firstly, because by telling Alana that, he'd have essentially made her believe she had nothing left to lose, and in her desperate fury she would have revealed whether or not she had been telling the truth about not alerting any kind of authorities about Hannibal.

And secondly…secondly, the _actual_ test Hannibal had put in place for him, was to see whether Will would be inclined to help Alana when she had been at her most broken, crawling around on the floor distraught and naked.

It'd been a test of his feelings for Alana, be it the platonic sort or not, and that was _nothing_ , Will would have passed that test like a cake walk. But the 'Morgan being dead' thing had tripped him up something awful…and yet still, he'd shocked himself and Hannibal by saying yes anyway to the older man's proposal, even while believing Hannibal had killed Morgan.

Will felt warmth in his chest just thinking about the revelation regarding the extent of his love for Hannibal, he'd known it was real, had known he needed and wanted and loved the man, but now he knew just how _deeply_ he felt it. He glanced at the ring on his finger where both of his hands were on the steering wheel as he drove along the straight countryside road, and he smiled, feeling a wave of giddiness pass through him at finally being engaged, his expression settling on an exhausted smile that he just couldn't help.

The things Hannibal had awoken in him had always been scary to face, but he could see now that there was still so much he had to learn about himself, there was so much more to his darkness and capabilities.

And regardless of how long it took or what he had to go through to learn all of those things, there was one thing he knew for certain, something that was now fortified by the ring on his finger, and it was that Hannibal would be right there beside him in the dark, no matter what.

* * *

They'd only arrived back at the villa in Livorno after 7 AM that morning, and after Chiyoh had let them know that Morgan was fine –Will had been too exhausted to ask for more details-, he and Hannibal had gone up to their bedroom, taken turns showering and by the time Hannibal had come out of the bathroom, Will had been fast asleep and dead to the world.

* * *

 _Italy, Livorno - Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 5.19 PM_

So when he woke up groggy as hell and stiff in every muscle, aching in every joint and wincing at his more personal pains, Will reached out to the bedside blindly to grab his cellphone, and after bringing it to eye level and lighting up the locked screen, he checked the time with blurry vision and wasn't really surprised to see that it was already close to being early evening and that he'd slept all day.

He groaned softly as he dropped his phone back onto the nightstand and then shifted under the blankets, rolling over onto his stomach with his sleep sandy eyes still half closed and reaching to the left side of the bed for Hannibal who, predictably, was not there. Will almost always woke up alone since Hannibal seemed incapable of sleeping late, but he still checked because sometimes he'd get lucky and Hannibal would be there. Will sighed sleepily and rubbed his face into his pillow, which hurt his bruised mouth, and then he opened his eyes properly, blinking a few times to clear his vision…and the first thing he spotted on his outstretched hand was his engagement ring settled perfectly on his finger.

Will was smiling before he even realized it.

He was _engaged_. And it had actually happened sooner than he'd expected.

Feeling suddenly refreshed with excitement, Will sorely dragged himself out of bed and decided that the quickest way to ease the stiff aching of his muscles and to ease his other pains, was to take a nice hot shower.

So he did, soaking under the hot spray of water for fifteen minutes before getting out and while he was brushing his teeth afterward, Will's stomach growled and he realized one of his many pains was coming from his empty stomach. But it wasn't surprising, since he hadn't eaten in over 24 hours.

Once he was done brushing his teeth, Will pulled on underwear, a pair of dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt, over which he wore a dark gray warm sweater since it was raining again outside and the weather was chilly. And after giving his hair a thorough rub dry with the towel, he left the bedroom barefoot and with his hair a mess of curls, choosing to skip the painkillers and ointment for right then since he was feeling pretty good after the shower, and instead he made his way downstairs to seek out his _fiancé_.

Honestly, all that he had on his mind as he reached the bottom of the stairs and padded into the lounge area, was Hannibal and food, in that order, so to say that he was startled back into the full scope of reality by the sight of Morgan Verger sitting beside Hannibal on one of the sofas, was a gross understatement.

Will's mouth fell open and stayed that way as he stared.

And being barefoot meant he hadn't made a sound when he entered the lounge, and while he knew Hannibal could probably smell him or something, Morgan was clueless to his presence just a few feet away, standing just outside of the boy's peripheral. The fact that he was unseen gave him the opportunity to observe the boy, who was dressed in black jeans and a blue long sleeve sweater, probably his own clothes from his runaway luggage, and he seemed calm and relaxed and, well…Morgan just seemed bizarrely…fine.

Will frowned, having subconsciously been expecting to meet a distraught and confused little boy at some point. Curious and fascinated by the situation, he remained where he was and watched Hannibal as he interacted with the boy, completely comfortable as he sat on one end of the double couch, his body turned more or less facing Morgan. And Morgan was sitting completely on the couch, with his little legs folded Indian style as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, listening to Hannibal…who was telling him some story or other in _fluent_ Italian.

' _Oh shit, yeah…he's lived in Italy for the last couple of years.'_ Will was reminded and felt a sudden regret that he only barely understood Italian, able even less to speak it.

Hannibal looked at him then and the affection that filled the older man's gaze was enough to make Will's ears a little warm, and then Morgan turned around and looked at him with gray-blue eyes…eyes that were the shape and color similar to Alana's. And while it was a little eerie, it was probably for the best, because she'd always had pretty eyes, and it at least softened the boy's more prominent Mason-like features, just enough that he actually managed to look innocent, as a child should. Will also noticed as the boy stared at him –specifically at his bruised mouth- that Morgan also appeared a little sleepy…and his pupils were slightly dilated.

Will forced himself not to grimace as the realization hit him that Morgan was probably still drugged in some way.

"Morgan, dire buona sera a Ethan." _(Morgan, say good evening to Ethan.)_ Hannibal said in a kind tone, sensibly using Will's fake name. Will looked at Hannibal briefly, watching as the older man idly touched his fingers along his jaw, amusement in his eyes as he glanced between Will and the boy. Morgan's mouth curled up into a rather honest smile, making him appear even less Mason-like, and he raised a hand and waved lightly while scratching at his knee with his other hand,

"Buonasera." _(Good evening.)_ he said politely in a mostly typical little boy's voice, the word sounding natural on his tongue.

Will raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled at him,  
"Buonasera, Morgan." _(Good evening, Morgan.)_ he said with his best Italian pronunciation, raising his hand to return the slight wave.

When Morgan turned back to face Hannibal, the older man smiled at him, a distinctive softness in his face and a gentle set to his body language,

"Ethan è sveglio. Quindi è ora di cena. Si prega di andare a recuperare Heleen, Morgan." _(Ethan is awake. So it's time for dinner. Please go to retrieve Heleen, Morgan.)_ he said to the boy, and Will just assumed he was sending Morgan to Chiyoh for some reason, barely understanding the sentence.

"OK." Morgan said the word slightly accented and then he bounced off the couch, loping out of the lounge and passing Will before he rushed up the stairs with the zest of a child. Even a drugged one.

When he was out of earshot, Will raised an eyebrow, sliding his eyes from the stairs to Hannibal before asking,

"Does he speak English?" he walked further into the lounge, approaching the older man who adjusted his position on the couch so that Will could sit down right beside him, so that their thighs and hips were touching and their bodies leaned toward one another. Will leaned in to kiss Hannibal's jaw a few times as he settled, and then he pressed a moist kiss to Hannibal's lips as the older man's arm along the back of the couch curled around his shoulders to draw him closer and deepen the kiss.

After some –slightly inappropriate- tonging into one another's mouths, Hannibal brought his other hand up and brushed his fingers through Will's lightly damp curls as he drew back and opened his eyes, staring straight into Will's half-lidded gaze. Hannibal honestly looked as though he was completely content right there and then, and Will could totally relate to the feeling.

"Brokenly." Hannibal answered when Will had almost forgotten he'd even asked a question.

They sat for long seconds in silence, breathing close, looking at one another, enjoying the safe and quiet moment, comforted by each other's presence in the aftermath of their dangerous undertaking and subsequent engagement. Hannibal was caressing his long fingers through Will's hair and Will was idly fingering the soft material of Hannibal's dark red, silk button down shirt when the older man ended the silence,

"How are you feeling?" Hannibal asked as he grazed his knuckles along Will's jaw line.

"Hmm, I'm okay." stiff and sore and trying not to sit flat on his ass, but yeah, he felt fine.

"Good…" Hannibal smiled and after they shared another soft lip to lip kiss, Will found he needed to know,

"Is he drugged?" he asked very quietly.

"Mildly…" Hannibal licked his lips slowly, savoring their mixed taste and they shared another smile and kiss before Hannibal added, "…but we will discuss it later, after we've eaten." and another kiss to Will's lips then, just a second before they heard footfalls on the stairs.

They'd separated and had both stood up when Chiyoh and Morgan came around the corner from the stairs and Hannibal, easy in any situation no matter how bizarre or awkward, gestured in the direction of the kitchen with a pleasant smile,

"If everyone will have a seat, I'll serve dinner." he looked at Morgan then, "Si prega di prendere un posto al tavolo da pranzo." _(Please take a seat at the dining table.)_ he added for the boy, who nodded and ran ahead of everyone into the kitchen, followed by Chiyoh and then himself and Hannibal.

* * *

All through dinner Will watched Morgan with discreet fascination.

The boy ate politely, he put a napkin over his lap when he sat down, he knew his cutlery, he chewed with his mouth closed –mostly-, he swallowed his mouthfuls before he sipped his juice and before talking when prompted to and he sat with admirable posture for his age, even as he swung his legs restlessly under the table. He spoke to and responded very politely to Hannibal, who was the only one who could hold any sort of fluent conversation with him, and even though his eyes were a little glazed and his attention wandered, he overall seemed like he was sure enough of his surroundings, perhaps not of exactly where he was or who with, but he didn't seem bothered by the unfamiliarity and strangers around him in the least.

Will was having trouble believing it. Where was the distress, the tears, the endless questions about his parents?

By the time everyone was finished eating, Will felt somewhere between paternal and ill at ease. It was unsettling to see the child so unconcerned with his situation and Will drank a little more wine than he'd intended trying to calm his nerves, worried that eventually the boy would burst into hysterics. He didn't drink to get drunk though, or even tipsy, he just had enough so that he felt relaxed and less stressed. He really wanted to know what the plan was for the Verger boy though, or he knew he'd worry himself into an ulcer.

Hannibal rose to clear the table then and declined help, so Will and Chiyoh remained seated, both of them watching as Morgan sat back in his chair and looked distractedly around the kitchen. His head and shoulders were only just visible over the top of the table and he kept swinging his legs, gray-blue eyes tracking the wooden beams on the ceiling and then the cabinets and walls, but he didn't seem to be really focusing on anything.

Will and Chiyoh exchanged a glance after a while, it was meaningless, but she did seem minutely less hostile toward him. And Will got a weird and misplaced sense of family as he sat at the table, having just had a comfortable supper with his fiancé and 'sister-in-law', and a polite little boy.

Warmth bloomed in his chest at the thought and he panicked quietly, disliking that his thoughts were going in a sappy, overly attached direction. He sat forward then and reached for the wine bottle still set on the table and his gaze lingered on his engagement ring as he poured some of the deep red liquid into his empty glass.

Ignoring another bloom of warmth in his chest, Will offered to pour more wine for Chiyoh, but she declined and just then Hannibal came back to the table, so Will gestured to the older man's near-empty glass, and Hannibal nodded as he proceeded to set out simply prepared dessert bowls of fresh fruit and ice-cream for everyone.

When they were all seated again, eating their desserts in comfortable silence, Will was pleasantly surprised when Hannibal, who was sitting beside him at the table, slid a warm hand over his own and loosely linked their fingers.

Will felt ten kinds of euphoric at the light but personal touch, and when he turned to smile at Hannibal, even though he kept it close-lipped, it was expressed with more emotion and affection than he would ever have been able to hold back even if he'd tried, and his chest filled with warmth again as he thought of family...

Chiyoh noticed their linked hands, but she didn't look annoyed by it, her eyes only lingered on his engagement ring briefly before she focused on her dessert and ate another spoonful of ice cream. Morgan glanced at their hands as well, briefly and barely giving notice to it before he continued to eat his dessert, spooning some ice cream and chocolate sauce into his mouth which was messed slightly at the corners…because even with all of his manners, he was just a little boy earnestly enjoying his ice cream.

There was a further five minutes of silent eating before Morgan spoke up,

"Posso si prega di essere scusato, devo andare in bagno?" _(May I please be excused, I have to go to the bathroom?)_ he said, looking at Hannibal and licking his sticky mouth.

Hannibal raised his eyebrows, Will seeing that new softness to his demeanor coming to the surface again,

"Sì, naturalmente." _(Yes of course.)_ Hannibal smiled at him, "Vuoi qualcuno di andare con te?" _(Do you want someone to go with you?)_

Will glanced from Hannibal to Morgan, and after a moment the boy nodded and Hannibal inclined his head before turning to look at Chiyoh,

"Would you please accompany him to the restroom?" he asked her.

She nodded and pushed her chair out, standing up and Morgan instinctively followed her lead, pushing his chair out and bouncing off ahead of her in his slip on canvas sneakers, the pair of them disappearing inside.

Will didn't wait a moment too long to ask,

"What's going to happen to him, Hannibal?" he turned slightly in his seat to look at the older man and absently squeezed his fingers between Hannibal's long, slender digits. The older man adjusted their hands so that he was holding Will's in his own, Hannibal's fingers curled into his palm and thumb stroking his wrist as he brought Will's hand up, his fingers to his lips, and kissed them firmly before he spoke against the skin there,

"That depends on you."

Will was a bit caught up in the affectionate touching, because while Hannibal had always been affectionate _enough_ before, now he seemed to be twice as much…and Will assumed the constant need to touch and kiss and caress and show his feelings openly was all part of that worship Hannibal mentioned.

It kind of overwhelmed Will actually, even in such small doses, and his words came out a bit raspy when he spoke,

"How do you…I mean, I don't…I don't understand," he swallowed lightly, shifting his fingers against Hannibal's warm lips and licking his own, "how does it depend on me?"

Hannibal inhaled through his nose and keeping his eyes focused on a point on the table, he brushed his lips against Will's knuckles lightly before speaking,

"Morgan is an orphan now, a boy with no one left in the world. He hasn't any family to return to even if that were an option, he has been reduced to a mere statistic." he paused, caressed Will's fingers, "But he is not a typical case of an orphan, for he has not had a typical life." Hannibal glanced at him and Will raised his eyebrows expectantly, waiting for Hannibal to go on.

And Hannibal did, his voice slipping into professional shrink mode,

"It is apparent that Morgan is very used to unfamiliar adults in an immediate home environment, he is used to being around a designated group of people who were not his parents, but were in place to watch over him and attend to his needs. He was very sheltered by the adults in his life and was raised well in terms of standard etiquette and manners, so he is very polite and accommodating to make things as easy as possible." Will watched as Hannibal wet his lips before continuing, "He is also very impressionable due to all of the excessive sheltering, very accepting of being told exactly what to do and when to do it, always following rules that were probably meant to keep him safe but really only left him vulnerable and at a great disadvantage in an uncontrolled environment. And while Morgan wouldn't know any different since he has no concept of anything outside of his bubble, he is starved, Will," the older man turned his head to look at him, "starved for the world, for new things, for real life, real color…and even for affection, besides that of his overprotective, neurotic mothers." Hannibal said the last part in an amused tone as he looked at Will, who was listening, _listening_ carefully to every word, "He has been cosseted to the point where it's somewhat damaging and in so being, he has not been able to grow and develop mentally outside of those orchestrated circumstances. The boy is only a version of himself, one that he has been molded into most likely by Alana."

Will pursed his lips briefly and frowned as he looked away from Hannibal, staring at the table top and absently fingering the spoon lying in his empty dessert bowl,

"You're saying that his behavior is…artificial?" he asked trying to grasp what the psychiatrist version of Hannibal was telling him. Hannibal tipped his head slightly, vaguely affirming Will's idea,

"Not artificial so much as habitual. Morgan is simply doing what he has likely done around strangers in an environment he perceives as safe for the better part of his life, be it bodyguards, nannies, household employees, teachers, parents of his approved friends…he's probably been told to listen to them specifically, to go to them if he has a problem, to respect them and so on." Hannibal shifted their hands again so he could observe the engagement ring.

"So, no outside strangers can be trusted, but inside ones can?" Will sighed, finding that reasoning rather extreme.

Hannibal shook his head lightly,

"Stranger for Morgan is a foreign term, Will," he said quietly and seriously, "I doubt the boy has ever been allowed to be around an actual complete stranger, so there is no way he could know what that is."

And Will understood that to mean,

"Alana and Margot controlled every single person that Morgan ever came into contact with, that's what you're saying?" he raised his eyebrows, somewhat amazed. Hannibal shrugged facially,

"At his age it wouldn't be hard to do, as he became older they'd have had trouble keeping it that way, certainly, but at five years old he was completely under their guidance and control, making no choices of his own, so yes, that would be my guess."

Will almost couldn't believe it, but if Hannibal was right –which he probably was since he'd likely spent the entire day talking to and learning about Morgan- then that would mean Morgan would have no idea of what it was to be abducted, because he would have no concept of what it meant to be taken away by strangers.

"All that aside though," Hannibal went on and Will looked at him again, blinking out of his thoughts, "from speaking with him at length, it's become clear that he is quite like a sponge. He's intelligent and seems to enjoy learning and sharing information. He and I spent a lot of time discussing the things he's been allowed to watch on television, read about in books or has learned in school, and I've found that he is enthusiastically open to new knowledge." Hannibal smiled slightly at that, "Morgan is a bright young mind, a boy desperately in need of input, and if the censorship is removed so that he may absorb knowledge and culture and life, I believe that he will quickly develop a sense of self."

There was a moment of silence then as Will let the information sink in, still trying to figure out how Morgan's fate depended on him, but when the older man smiled wider, apparently thinking about something amusing, Will was distracted and cocked a curious eyebrow at him,

"What's funny?" he asked softly as he reached for his wine glass, feeling tired and stressed but quietly comforted by Hannibal's thumb stroking the ring on his finger. Hannibal looked at him when he answered,

"This morning, when I first encountered Morgan at breakfast, I asked him to tell me his name, and he only answered with 'Morgan', nothing else. I asked him then specifically what his last name was and he became uncomfortable, so next, I asked if he knew what his last name was, and he said yes," Will frowned at the strange exchange and Hannibal continued to look amused as he went on, "but he wouldn't tell it to me himself. It was only once I'd told him that I already knew it, and had said it back to him, that he confirmed it was correct."

Will huffed out a laugh as it dawned on him what the implication behind that was,

"He's been instructed not to reveal his last name?" he posed it as a question but expected he was right, and when Hannibal chuckled and nodded once, Will raised his eyebrows and sipped his wine, realizing that Alana and Margot had really gone all out to keep the kid a secret.

They'd been _that_ paranoid and afraid that the wrong person would hear _Verger_ and take it straight to the papers or something. Alana and Margot had worked hard to hide themselves, to hide Morgan…from Hannibal. No wonder the man was amused.

Hannibal reached for Will's wine glass, since his own and the bottle were empty and Will –always loving it when the older man was relaxed enough to lower his decorum- handed it to him with a brush of their fingers,

"The boy is socially stunted in certain ways," Hannibal spoke after taking the glass, "emotionally as well, and when he is uncertain of how to behave, he mimics, especially when someone exhibits behavior he is unfamiliar with or hasn't experienced before." Hannibal took a sip, licked his lips after, shifted their hands so their fingers were linked again and Will tried not to sigh like a lovesick little girl, "He was quiet and withdrawn with me when I first started speaking to him, because I was behaving as I usually would when dealing with a patient. And he only became comfortable when I altered my approach, when I gave him something to adapt to by displaying a form of _personality_ , as it were." he didn't say the word sarcastically, but Will took it that way, "He's obviously been taught to blend in as much as possible so as not to draw attention to himself."

Will felt irritated at hearing that,

"Is that what Alana instilled in him? Is that what he's doing here, mimicking and blending?" he asked, shocked on some paternal level he'd thought was long lost, but it was coming to the forefront the more they discussed Morgan. He couldn't believe that Margot, and Alana especially, hadn't realized what they'd been doing to the boy. They'd been so blinded by their fear of Hannibal that they'd molded their child into a kind of _puppet_.

Will squeezed Hannibal's hand, reassured by the touch everyone else so feared…it made him feel powerful, and safe and he smiled softly, watching as the former Chesapeake Ripper took another sip of wine.

Hannibal set the glass down on the table then and fingered the stem,

"I assume so, after all, Alana did deal with child patients a lot in the past, so she would have used her knowledge to her advantage, believing she was doing what was best." he said blandly and then took a moment before speaking again, "Chiyoh says that when Morgan awoke early hours of the morning, before we'd returned, he just sat quietly on the couch, accepted without hesitation when she offered him tea, even asked politely for her to make it sweet…but he didn't ask after his parents…and he still hasn't."

"Fear?" Will frowned, unable to think of another reason why the boy would be so passive.

Hannibal wet his lips, pursed them thoughtfully and then took a quiet breath,

"I would assume some sort of pre-conditioning." he offered, but it was clear he was speculating and not totally certain, "Alana had changed in many ways since she'd learned who I was, and during my time under her lock and key, I saw that she'd grown to be officious and pedantic, a bad combination in anyone. I wouldn't be surprised if those developed traits coupled with her paranoia might have caused her to drill it into him to be hyperaware of his behavior at all times, not to antagonize, to be careful of what he says or asks…" Hannibal raised an eyebrow, "…a 'be good, stay alive' sort of mentality, which makes him weak and vulnerable in his excessively good behavior and politeness." he shook his head with an amused smile, "A careless, narrow minded misuse of her psychiatric talents."

Hearing the words _narrow minded_ and seeing how amused Hannibal was, Will realized something,

"Politeness…" he raised his eyebrows, disbelieving, "…Hannibal, do you think that Alana raised him so politely specifically in case he ever encountered you?" and it seemed ridiculous and yet also plausible.

Hannibal smirked then and looked out through the windows at the drizzling rain,

"Perhaps…we will never know."

Will blinked, amazed by the influence of Hannibal's presence even in the lives of people from their past, and then he smiled and huffed out a quiet laugh as he shook his head and reached for the quarter full wine glass,

"No, I suppose we won't." he said quietly and took a sip.

There was a beat of silence before Hannibal continued,

"Regardless of Alana's reasons for raising him as she has, it is certainly convenient in many ways," he was speaking quietly, tone far more serious, "Morgan is so removed from normalcy that he has not yet even developed much of a personality. But with the way that he is, if someone were to show him freedom, were to introduce him to all the things in the world that a child could see and learn and experience…" Hannibal looked at Will again, "…if someone were to take him out of the fragile little box that Alana and Margot put him in, he would flourish. In many ways, Morgan is a blank canvas, and he is only in need of some color and fine art."

Will inhaled and exhaled deeply as Hannibal's words sunk in, and he took another sip of wine as he leaned back in his chair, willing himself to stay relaxed and focusing on the feeling of Hannibal's fingers still interlocked with his own. Despite Hannibal saying 'someone', Will knew what Hannibal was suggesting, who Hannibal was suggesting, and subconsciously some part of him had already considered it, but he hadn't thought it was an option.

Up until right then, when suddenly it was.

He stared at their joined hands, at his engagement ring, as he asked,

"Do you think…that he's like Mason?" he had to know Hannibal's opinion.

Hannibal breathed evenly, completely unperturbed by the weight of the topic being discussed,

"I can't be certain. Under normal circumstances, he might have already presented by now if he had any tendencies toward violence or cruelty."

"But his circumstances aren't normal." Will set the wine glass down, rubbed his hand over the side of his face.

"No," Hannibal agreed, "so if he does have any such proclivities they will likely only come to light once he's been allowed to develop with some independence," Will watched as the older man scratched his thumbnail over his fine eyebrow, "and proper guidance would benefit him greatly." Hannibal added very unsubtly.

And Will really didn't know how he felt about that. If he understood Hannibal correctly, the man was saying that he wanted to raise Morgan to be like them…a murderer. He was saying that he wanted to raise Morgan…together.

Will swallowed tensely and turned to look at Hannibal, deciding to just speak plainly,

"You're asking me if I want to raise Morgan with you…as our son?" he asked quietly, looking directly into auburn eyes. Hannibal brought Will's hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to his knuckles again,

"Yes." he answered just as quietly, seriously, sincerely.

Will's stomach was simultaneously shaken and fluttering at the sentimental tone of Hannibal's voice, and he knew it was no small thing, no small offering being made. It was _raising a child together_. It was significant…and scary.

"Hannibal-…"

"You can take your time to think about it, Will. We have time…" Hannibal cut him off softly, likely having heard the uncertainty and fear in Will's quiet utterance of his name. He frowned as he watched Hannibal close his eyes before he sighed, "…I am aware of how difficult a decision this will be for you. In a way, you have already lost three children…" and when he said it Will felt hurt for the mentioned losses, but it was a distant ache, an accepted and forgiven pain of their violent past, "…and while I cannot give any of them back to you, I can offer you this opportunity to be the father you've always wanted to be, and I will make a promise to you, Will…" his voice lowered into a whisper, "…that I will never again be the one to take a child away from you."

Will stared at Hannibal for a quiet minute, the man kept his eyes closed, his lips pressed to Will's knuckles and after another tense swallow, after he'd finally gotten his overturning stomach under control, Will dared to ask,

"Will he have to be drugged?" because how else were they supposed to keep him?

The boy would remember his parents, would probably work up the nerve to ask about them at some point…

"For a time, yes…" Hannibal reopened his eyes and lowered their hands to the table, squeezing once firmly before slipping his fingers away. He flexed his hand before reaching for the near-empty wine glass, "…only during the period in which I would need to…make alterations to his mental state." his words weren't tactful, but aware of the sensitive subject, he used a kinder tone.

"Like with Abigail?" Will wanted to understand, and was surprised when Hannibal chuckled softly,

"No, no, nothing like Abigail. Morgan is still young…moldable, adrift, accepting and honest, able to have his morals, ethics, ideas of trust and loyalty and love and hate completely redefined. Abigail…she was mostly driven by fear."

"Fear of you?" he asked quietly.

"Somewhat, but mostly fear of facing consequences for the murders she helped her father commit." Hannibal said apathetically and finished the wine left in the glass. Will frowned as he tracked his eyes over Hannibal's face,

"So Morgan wouldn't be afraid?"

Hannibal set the glass down and looked at him,

"No, Morgan would live blissfully ignorant through the formative years of his life, with the belief that his parents died and he has been adopted by us. He would take the last name of Gerard or Kask, whichever you'd prefer, and he would only know us as Ethan and Hannes." he smiled slightly, "Essentially Will, he will live as normally as a young boy should, completely unaffected by who we truly are for as long as need be."

Will took a breath and lowered his gaze to Hannibal's shoulder, realizing that yeah, he kind of really liked the way that sounded. He could already picture Morgan running around their large yard in Benidorm, playing with Remy and Heller, or swimming in the pool with himself there to supervise, or even sitting around playing videogames –because Will _would_ buy him videogames-, or watching movies in the living room, maybe anime or American cartoons dubbed in Spanish or Italian, while snacking on whatever Hannibal considered to be healthy treats for children.

He could imagine himself preparing and packing lunches for when Morgan went to school, just as he'd done for Walter some mornings. He could imagine camping trips in land, going on the water and teaching Morgan to fish, or if he wanted to learn to surf or something else, Will would go to his lessons with him at their nearest beach front. He could see himself encouraging Morgan to make friends, to have sleepovers, to play sports and be competitive in school, to excel…he could see himself tucking Morgan into bed at night, letting him know that he was safe…that no monster could get him.

Because as his fathers, they would be the real monsters…protecting him.

And maybe, maybe one day, Morgan would become a monster too, but only if he wanted to.

It sounded crazy. It _was_ crazy and he felt like he was being completely ridiculous.

"Is that even possible…?" Will breathed out, his chest tightening warmly at the idea of it all; in love, engaged –soon to be married- and with a son, while still being a murderer, a monster, all at the same time, could he really have all that? It sounded too good to be true…

"It would take some time for him to readjust, probably not very long though, since he is young. Still, I would be thorough in his reconditioning…but yes, Will, it is entirely possible." Hannibal answered sincerely.

Will glanced to the archway of the kitchen when he heard voices in the lounge, and he lowered his voice,

"But how could you be sure he'd never mention Alana or Margot to outsiders, never mention his real last name, how could we know that he'd understand his new life, that he'd just accept that we would be his parents?" Will needed to feel reassured, he wanted Hannibal to make it sound like the best idea ever.

And Hannibal's quiet answer, while being terrifying, was also terribly comforting,

"In the same way that I was certain Miriam Lass would never identify me as the Chesapeake Ripper, and in the same way I knew Abigail had bound herself to me…Bedelia, Chiyoh, Randal, Gideon."

"Me too, and countless others I'm sure." Will managed a crooked smile when Hannibal glanced at him, thinking of how many other people Hannibal had probably brought over to the 'dark side' in his life.

But Hannibal shook his head once lightly, his eyes tracking over Will's face slowly,

"No, not you, Will, you were the exception." he sounded fond just to say it and Will wanted to kiss him for it. Hannibal returned to the point then, "You needn't worry, I have never had a problem breeding absolute loyalty in subjects of my interest. So while the method and intent for Morgan will be different, as it has been with every other person, the outcome of this undertaking would be the same." and he was so confident about it too.

Will was unsurprised, and also felt the need to say,

"You have my absolute loyalty."

Hannibal smiled then, slowly, a subtle curve of his mouth,

"Indeed, but I'd like to think that it isn't the result of psychological conditioning and coercive persuasion."

Will snorted and slipped his fingers between Hannibal's again, leaning a little closer,

"Hardly," he glanced briefly at the older man's mouth, "while you did royally mind-fuck me at one point, at every other turn after that you were _brutally_ honest with me," he smiled softly, "so no, no psychological conditioning or coercion…just a staggering epiphany of who I really am…and also the fact that I'm in love with you." he added the last part very quietly, with distinctive notes of intimacy and sentiment in his tone.

"Still the best reason…" Hannibal said softly, still smiling and clearly pleased and Will could tell that the older man wanted to kiss him right then.

Will wished he would…but they were not in the appropriate place for it.

Another beat of silence passed as he took Hannibal's offer to heart, and then he smiled softly,

"I'll think about it." and he would, because it would be really amazing to have a son and to raise him with Hannibal.

It'd be hard getting used to always being called Ethan or always having to call Hannibal, Hannes, but it was a small thing to sacrifice to have a family.

Especially in the kind of life and world and reality where Will had believed it would never be possible.

* * *

 _Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 6.38 PM_

After dinner, the atmosphere of the evening took on a strange but very pleasant, weird and warm vibe.

Chiyoh left not long after he and Hannibal had taken care of the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. Leaving the care of Morgan to them, she told Hannibal that she had to tie up some loose ends and Will figured it had to do with cleaning the cars and getting rid of the Verger's belongings and such, so he hadn't asked.

And so it was just the three of them left together for the evening and Will was nervous about having to watch over Morgan, not sure what to expect, but he was also secretly pleased about getting to spend time alone as a pseudo-family, the situation feeling like sort of an impromptu trial run.

With everything taken care of in the house for the night, Hannibal made Morgan hot cocoa, even though it wasn't that cold, his own and Hannibal's drinks were coffee and wine respectively, and then they all settled in the lounge together like a bizarre, but very real rendition of a family. And Will watched as Hannibal handled the situation as if he'd had a child as a charge all his life, and not just when he'd been very young looking after Mischa. It was fascinating and heartwarming and intense in its own way, seeing how easily and naturally Hannibal took to being parent-like, settling Morgan down on the sofa with his beverage handed to him afterward carefully, asking him if he had eaten enough and then saying something in Italian that made the little boy smile and nod.

Will had decided to step in then too, wanting to get a feel of his own for the situation, wanting to know if he could comfortably take on the role of being a dad to Morgan. So while Hannibal was busy situating Morgan, Will looked through Chiyoh's Blu-ray collection in one of her cabinet dividers and selected a few films he thought a kid might enjoy and that were mostly age appropriate. And once Hannibal had settled on the double sofa's end by himself, Will went over and sat down next to Morgan, asking him what he wanted to watch and showing the boy the selected DVD's.

If Morgan had been allowed to watch fictional movies before, he gave no indication, but he did look pretty pleased to be able to select whatever he wanted. After he chose a film, Will put it on for him, setting it to the Italian dub, and taking a seat on the far end of the long sofa, he watched as Morgan huddled up against the armrest nearest to the television and sat quietly to watch his chosen movie.

Will had a moment of imagining taking Morgan shopping and letting him pick whatever selection of movies he wanted whenever he saw something he liked, so that one day he'd have his own collection.

The mental image was startlingly vivid.

* * *

For a half an hour Will sat contentedly watching, sometimes Morgan and sometimes the comedy film. He'd never been a fan of films, a classic here and there maybe, documentaries sure, but his music and movie situation was about the same, he'd given up interest in that sort of media early on in his life. So while he could appreciate some of the humor, it was mostly uninteresting to him…watching Morgan though, made it worth observing.

Seeing him laughing, reserved but genuinely, whenever the people in the movie did something stupid, or smiling or frowning at other situations….mimicking what he was seeing too maybe, and fidgeting as children often did, made the paternal part of him want to see more, he wanted to see the boy grow bolder and comfortable as he became familiar, he wanted to encourage and talk to Morgan, learn about him, _raise_ him.

He couldn't help remembering that Margot, with her dying breathe, had asked him to look after Morgan…and before everything that had happened, years ago, she'd chosen him to be the father of her baby. So maybe, in some twisted way, him becoming an adoptive father to Morgan made sense. Margot had once trusted both himself and Hannibal with the secret of her having a baby, and maybe in death, she'd known Morgan would be safe with them…maybe he could get away with seeing it like that, so that he could more easily justify wanting to accept Hannibal's offer.

He looked over at Hannibal then, where the older man was sitting on the double sofa, his wine almost finished as he sat reading some German book of Chiyoh's. He was so relaxed, so comfortable, as if everything happening was just the natural procession of things, as if how it was right then was how it was meant to be.

And Hannibal tended to be pretty premeditated, so maybe everything happening was just a part of his grandest design for Will being in his life.

Because Hannibal really was, essentially, giving Will _everything_ he wanted, the older man was slowly replacing the things he'd taken away, lovingly replacing them. Improving them.

Making Will's life whole where it had never been before.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Will noticed that Morgan had fallen asleep. The movie was still running, a soft, lulling drone in the background and he quietly got off the couch, careful not to move too much so that he didn't disturb the boy.

He went over to Hannibal then and sat down next to him, drawing one foot up onto the seat, knee to his chest as he leaned his head on Hannibal's shoulder.

The older man acknowledged him by lightly nosing his hair and pressing a kiss there before returning to his reading. Will sighed softly and smiled just so, feeling perfectly content right then…so much so that it seemed almost unreal.

But it was very, very real.

* * *

 _Friday – 23 Sep 2022 – 10.42 PM_

After Chiyoh had returned, she and Hannibal talked for a while in the kitchen, quietly enough that Will only heard snippets as he sat on the sofa by himself beside Hannibal's facedown book, and from the little bits of the conversation he could overhear, it sounded like everything was fine. Morgan was still asleep on the other couch, the TV screen flashing over and over again through the DVD contents menu.

When they were done talking, Hannibal returned to the lounge and elected to carry Morgan up to bed. Will wanted to go along, but because of the clinical tone of the older man's voice, he immediately knew why Hannibal was not suggesting he do it in the first place…it was because Hannibal had to give Morgan whatever dose of drugs was needed and didn't want, or expected Will wouldn't want, to be present for that.

And he was right.

So Will just nodded, didn't make a move to follow and watched as Hannibal gently, yet efficiently, lifted the boy into his arms, carrying Morgan as if he'd done it a thousand times, so that the boy's limp body was facing inward, most of his weight rested against Hannibal's chest, his head on Hannibal's shoulder and his skinny arms and legs dangling in sleeping abandon.

Will couldn't help smiling adoringly at Hannibal's retreating form…but when Chiyoh walked into the lounge and saw him watching Hannibal and smiling like an idiot, he awkwardly averted his gaze. She looked amused at his reaction, and despising that he blushed, he opted to excuse himself from her presence as civilly as possible instead of letting himself become irritated with her. He followed Hannibal's lead upstairs then, making his way to the privacy of the guestroom he shared with the older man, where he'd wait for his fiancé to join him.

After switching on the bedside lamps, Will settled onto his side of the bed, sitting up against the headboard and pillows, mindful of his aches and pains, and once he was comfortable he extracted his phone from his pocket. He busied himself with searching news channels, pleased to see nothing had been reported on him and Hannibal or even on Margot and Alana, and once he'd appeased his worries, he then tapped into his messages from Isa and sent her a quick text saying that everything was okay and he thanked her for her concern.

She replied back a minute later with a smiley face and a message of well wishes for Hannibal's sister, and just then Hannibal entered the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind himself as he glanced at Will,

"Are you still tired?" he asked with a smirk at seeing Will comfortably lounging on the bed.

Will looked at Hannibal and idly fiddled with the cover of his phone as he spoke,

"No…not really…or maybe, I don't know." he shrugged against the pillows as he watched Hannibal's long, lean figure cross the room and disappear through the open door of the bathroom, "Is he asleep?" he asked then about Morgan and returned his gaze to his phone.

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of liquid hitting liquid, Hannibal was urinating,

"Yes, soundly." the older man answered audibly.

Will sighed quietly, feeling some relief at having gotten through the evening without a hitch. He placed his cellphone on the nightstand then, beside his glasses, before settling back comfortably and waiting for Hannibal to be done.

A minute later, following the flush of the toilet and the sound of running water, the older man emerged from the bathroom and came over to the bed, where he sat down on his side and bent over to remove his shoes.

Will watched the shift of his shoulder blades and back muscles beneath his red silk shirt as Hannibal moved, and after glancing at his ring adorned finger, he was once again assaulted with an influx of hormones, all of which were rapidly making him feel hot and horny, or rather, amorous - as Hannibal liked to say.

As arousal panged through his abdomen and settled between his legs, Will shifted, getting up onto his knees and moving over to where Hannibal sat, settling behind the older man with his legs bent, straddling Hannibal's hips closely, his chest to the older man's back. He squeezed his thighs lightly against the older man as he slipped his arms around Hannibal's torso, leaving a moist kiss against the skin of his neck and pressing closer before speaking softly,

"Are you doing okay?" he asked, inhaling the scent of Hannibal's cologne, his aftershave, his shampoo, _everything_ that was distinctly _Hannibal_ , filtering into Will's senses and inciting another spike of arousal..

"Certainly…" Hannibal responded in a low tone, letting his second shoe drop to the floor before leaning back into Will's hold, "…and you?"

Will kissed his neck again, slid his hands up first over Hannibal's chest and then down, lower, to caress them over the tops and then between the older man's thighs, muscle firm beneath the soft material of his expensive pants. He kissed Hannibal's earlobe next and then scraped his teeth over the soft flesh, bringing his hands to Hannibal's crotch, to his belt buckle, which he slowly started to undo,

"I'm horny." he said with a light rasp as he pressed his hips forward, lightly grinding his clothed semi-erection against the older man's lower back.

"I'm aware." Hannibal said with a smirk, his tone plainly affected, his voice rougher.

Will removed the pin from the leather belt and slid the strap through the buckle slowly,

"It's our engagement night, Hannibal, there should be sex, shouldn't there?" he spoke against Hannibal's ear, moving his fingers to the fastenings of the older man's pants, "Like…on principle or something." he licked his tongue shallowly into Hannibal's ear then, hyperaware of how much harder he was already and also of how much his ass still hurt, but regardless, he wanted Hannibal.

Hannibal hummed, sounding more contemplative than agreeable, and that was not a good sign. So Will drew the older man's zipper down and slid his hand into the folds of his pants and underneath the waistband of his briefs, to where his semi-hard cock was quickly filling out. And Will felt another rush of arousal pool in his groin as he took Hannibal's sizable length in his hand and he felt it throb, flesh hot and getting thicker under his touch.

He knew Hannibal would need a little push, some convincing to get over his hang up about hurting him, so withdrawing his hand again quickly, Will licked at his palm twice so it was a little wet and then slid his hand back inside Hannibal's pants and underwear immediately...

* * *

 **THIS SCENE HAS BEEN REMOVED , IT CONTAINS PARTIAL EMOTIONAL PLOT AND NC17 CONTENT, PLEASE VIEW ON AO3 UPLOAD.**

* * *

...and he didn't doubt Hannibal was satisfied, since the older man had confessed a long time ago that he enjoyed giving Will oral sex of _every_ kind, so, yeah, they'd both definitely enjoyed it.

Hannibal made a rumbling sound in his chest that was about as close as a person could possibly get to purring and it made Will shiver with delight. He slid his hands into Hannibal's messy hair then and tugged the older man's head up so that they were level, and the second their mouths came together, the subsequent kiss was hot and wet and uncoordinated, full of tongue and heavy breathing and feeling, making both of them feel pleasurably dazed.

After some time, Hannibal hummed huskily and left off from the kiss to nuzzle against Will's face and neck and hair, as if he were a big cat loving up on some potent catnip, and it was absolutely seductive and fantastic and Will melted into it, clinging to Hannibal with his arms around the man's back and naked legs bracketing his hips, Will mouthing kisses over Hannibal's neck, his ear and the older man's mouth when he managed to meet it.

They were both smiling against one another's lips when Hannibal spoke,

"I'm going to draw us a bath, would you like me to fetch champagne before?" he asked softly, and Will was made even happier by just the _offer_ of engagement night romance, but the idea of Hannibal leaving his immediate space right then was unacceptable, so,

"No…no champagne…just the bath." he kissed Hannibal's mouth, sucked on his lower lip, smiled some more and then they spent a little more time engrossed in languid, deep kissing before they eventually drew apart again, Hannibal getting up and off the bed first and stripping his clothes off, before taking Will's hand and pulling him up as well.

They made their way into the en-suite then, Hannibal getting the water running in the corner drop-in bathtub as Will went to the toilet and relieved himself. When he was done, he joined Hannibal where the man stood at the basin gargling mouthwash and Will washed his hands before rinsing his mouth out as well.

The running water was switched off soon after and Hannibal stepped into the tub and settled down first, Will following after and hissing softly as he slipped into the nearly-too-hot water.

He'd only just sat down between Hannibal's legs, his back facing the older man, when Hannibal's hot, wet hands smoothed up over his back either side of his spine and then settled into a massaging motion at his shoulders and neck.

"Aah…wow…" Will sighed, feeling previously unnoticed tension easing away in increments from his muscles, "…I had no idea I was so tense." he mumbled, leaning back into Hannibal's skilled hands. The older man rubbed his neck, shoulders and back for a while longer until eventually his hands just started to wonder over the smooth planes of Will's skin.

When Hannibal's arms finally slipped around his waist, slowly easing him back to lean against the older man's chest, Will felt completely relaxed and impossibly content. The water was deep enough that it lapped at his collar bone as he settled back against the older man's body and stretched his legs out as much as he could, lying with his head rested in the center of Hannibal's chest.

Will stretched his arms out with a sleepy sigh as he got comfortable, placing his forearms on Hannibal's bent knees either side of him, his hand's hanging limply as water dripped from his fingertips…

…and he noticed that his engagement ring appeared shiny with the many diamonds and clinging moisture, glinting softly under the bathroom's bright LED lighting.

Hannibal noticed it too, and he raised his equally wet hand to slide it over Will's wrist and then into his hand until Hannibal's fingers were splaying Will's own and the older man was observing the ring,

"Does it fit properly?" Hannibal asked quietly into his hair.

Will was looking at the ring and he smiled, stretching his fingers over Hannibal's just that much more,

"Perfectly." he said quietly.

"And do you like it?" Will felt Hannibal press a light kiss to the top of his head.

"Yes, I do." he answered sincerely, tilting his head back and to the side slightly to look at Hannibal before he pushed himself up and turned his upper body just enough so that he could kiss the older man.

Hannibal took the sweet kiss as an invitation to lick his way passed Will's lips, tasting the back of his mouth a few times before Hannibal drew back. And with a content, kiss-dazed smile on his face, Will turned around again and rested back against Hannibal with his back to the older man's chest and his head on Hannibal's shoulder.

They sat in steamy silence for a while, the mist of heat swirling around them, shifting lightly when affected by their breaths and every little movement of their bodies. Hannibal was running his hot, damp hands through Will's hair, wetting his curls gradually and Will was so relaxed that he'd almost dozed off when Hannibal asked,

"Would you like to have a wedding?" against the shell of his ear.

Will inhaled sleepily and frowned,

"I don't know…" he said softly, not having had any time to think about it, he'd been so focused on the getting engaged part that he hadn't considered much else. But it was something he intended to give proper thought to. Being that as it was, the decision wasn't his alone, "…what about you?"

Hannibal hummed softly as he kissed Will's ear and jawline, his neck, ran his hands through messy curls, constantly kissing and touching and nuzzling. Hannibal was being so much more tactile than usual and it was making Will feel dizzy with affection. The older man sniffed idly then,

"I'll be fine with whatever you choose." he answered distractedly, and Will wanted to insist, but then he figured maybe Hannibal really didn't mind leaving it up to him. Still,

"Are you sure?" he just wanted to double check.

"Absolutely." he sounded sure.

Will smiled, turning his head to the side and kissing Hannibal's jawline as the older man trailed a hand down his chest and abdomen. Will arched lightly into the touch and he hummed softly when Hannibal teasingly caressed his mildly firm penis.

The touch was not meant to be sexually rousing, it was just intended to be pleasant and intimate. Much the same as it was for Hannibal when Will pressed back against him lightly, trapping the older man's sex between them so that it rubbed against the skin of Will's lower back sensually. The closeness between them was usually quite heady, but it was even more so right then, everything felt heightened.

Will was still smiling as a thought occurred to him,

"So if I wanted the whole shebang, with like…" he vaguely gestured with the wet fingers of his right hand, "…fancy invitations, lots of guests, flower arrangements," and slid his left hand fingers easily between Hannibal's, "you and I wearing complimenting suits…reciting vows that we'd written, driving away after the ceremony in a car with ' _Just Married'_ tagged on the back window." he laughed softly at his own words and absently licked steamed moisture from his lips, "We'd have the first dance at the reception, and we'd have a six course meal served and a five tier cake…that you'd probably plan out and prepare yourself, because well, you're you…" he trailed off and then still grinning, he raised an eyebrow, "…all that?"

Without missing a beat and with a smile in his voice, Hannibal said,

"Anything." in an amused tone, his lips brushing against Will's ear.

Will snorted,

"No way."

"Way."

He couldn't help laughing at hearing Hannibal respond that way, his smile bright and his skin tinted pink in places from the heat of the water and a faint blush of happiness,

"You're unbelievable." he mumbled out, trying to control his grin.

"But you do believe me…don't you?" Hannibal asked seductively, and Will melted just a little more, his stomach feeling as though a kaleidoscope of butterflies were fluttering around enthusiastically,

"…yeah, I believe you." he answered quietly and pressed back against the older man, finding Hannibal's other hand with his own and easily linking their fingers there as well, "It's a good thing I don't want any of that." he added with a smirk. Hannibal chuckled,

"Yes, it most certainly is."

Will laughed quietly at the expected response as he absently shifted a naked leg against Hannibal's,

"If we do…uh, have a wedding I mean, it should be small, private." he said honestly, because he'd prefer a small affair if they did have something. Hannibal kissed his neck and brushed his nose against the skin he'd kissed, and Will took that as his wordless agreement.

A few moments of silence passed before Will's thoughts of their future prospects eventually drifted to the issue of Morgan, and so he picked up from where their conversation had left off earlier that evening,

"It depends though…" he mumbled quietly, but the words sounded loud in the large bathroom.

"On what?" Hannibal had unlinked one pair of their hands so that he could run his fingers through Will's hair again.

Will swallowed lightly, enjoying the sensation as he spoke,

"What would happen if we…adopted Morgan?" he posed a question in place of an answer, using the word _adopted_ because itseemed like the nicest way of putting it.

Hannibal took a quiet breath, his tone also turning serious,

"Well, we could not return to Spain right away if we choose to do that, because we will need time with him." and Will knew Hannibal meant 'time to alter his mental state', to make him theirs, and he nodded to let the older man know he should go on. "I will have all the necessary papers forged, which will include a false identity and background for him as well as documents stating that he is our legally adopted son. And once we have those documents, we will leave for anywhere you'd like to go." Hannibal paused and lightly scraped his nails over Will's scalp, parting temporary lines in his dark hair, "You mentioned Argentina before, we could go there for a while…and once everything is in order, we will return home to Spain with Morgan." he sounded so sure, so confident it would all go off without a hitch.

Will wet his lips and pursed them, frowning lightly when he asked,

"What about our house?"

"Chiyoh will look after it," again, the older man didn't miss a beat, "as she shall Remy and Heller. She has already told me that she wouldn't mind living in Spain for a while." he explained. And it was news to Will, but then, Hannibal and Chiyoh had had plenty of time to talk while he'd been asleep all day.

Will took in a quiet breath and raised his eyebrows slightly,

"So, we'd live in Argentina, or wherever, for however long it'll take you to…" he paused to consider his next words, "…until you've had enough time with Morgan, and then we'd return home to Spain and carry on with our lives? Get married…raise a son?" he asked quietly, the whole thing sounding surreal.

Will had no idea when his life had become so bizarrely perfect.

Hannibal shifted their position slightly then, bringing his arms up around Will's shoulders, and Will closed his eyes as he relaxed back into the older man's hold, listening as Hannibal responded,

"Assuming nothing ever comes up pertaining to the Verger's disappearance, and that we do not ever need to go into hiding at any time," because that was always a possibility, "then yes, that is precisely what would happen." he affirmed, "And if you'd like, Will, we could always get married in Argentina?" the inflection in Hannibal's tone suggested it was a question.

And Will was shaking his head before he'd even realized it,

"No, we'll wait…I want to wait until we can get married at home." and home felt like Spain to him; their house in the city they'd chosen, their dogs, their beautiful view of the ocean.

"Then we'll wait." Hannibal agreed easily.

Will sighed as he nodded lightly, feeling appeased by everything Hannibal had told him, his concerns for the moment all melting away as he absently considered leaning forward and running more hot water. And he'd just decided that he was far too comfortable to move when Hannibal asked,

"Does that mean you've made a decision?"

Will's thoughts quickly returned to the point of their discussion and he blinked a few times as he considered his final answer. In his mind's eye he pictured Morgan, fast asleep as he'd been on the sofa earlier, innocent and orphaned. He then thought of Margot's last words to him and saw fleeting images of Margot and Alana's grave, then of himself teaching Morgan to fish, of Hannibal having carried the boy to bed with natural fatherly ease, of the words ' _aš tave myliu_ ' and of Hannibal proposing to him with love and adoration on his handsome face…

"Yes…" Will answered quietly, "…yes, Hannibal, I would like us to raise Morgan together." and after voicing his decision, he immediately felt emotion well up inside him over the fact that he would actually have a family in the future, a real one, one in which he would really be himself and not have to fake anything.

"Then we shall." Hannibal said in a tone that was nothing short of ' _your wish is my command_ ' and Will's head spun for a second at how much power and influence that tone implied he had over the dangerous man holding him. His pulse quickened as he was rushed with so many emotions all at once, not just his own, but Hannibal's as well as the man had briefly let his guard down when he'd said those words, and it was more than a little overwhelming.

Will felt too hot and a little high and Hannibal's naked skin against his own, Hannibal being so close right then, and hopefully always…it meant _everything_ to him _._

In an attempt to calm his racing heart and mind, Will forced himself to ignore his empathy as much as he could as he tried to think of something else to talk about. And like a reminder on his phone, a little blip went up in his mind with a note about Bedelia contained in it.

"Hey…" he frowned as he turned his head and looked at the side of Hannibal's face, "…you still haven't told me what you did with Bedelia's body."

Hannibal smirked, all sexy and mysterious and Will almost rolled his eyes,

"I do believe my question is more important."

And that caught Will off guard, making him frown,

"What question?" he asked confused, because Hannibal hadn't asked him anything.

The older man leaned forward then, and Will moved with him, the water shifting noisily around their bodies. Hannibal retrieved a bottle of shampoo from the corner edge of the tub and only after he'd poured a dollop of it into his palm, gathered water in his other and was massaging the soapy mixture into Will's damp hair, did he speak again,

"I wanted to know how long it was that you knew." he cupped some more water in his hand and massaged it into Will's hair, building up a thick lather, the foam thickening in his curls.

Enjoying the sensation of Hannibal washing his hair, Will distractedly asked,

"Knew what?"

Hannibal splayed his long fingers in Will's hair then, tilting Will's head back and to the side so that he could kiss the displayed wet and pale column of his neck before speaking with warm minty breath against damp skin,

"How long did you know about the engagement ring?"

Will's half lidded eyes widened as he tensed up, slowly turning his head to look at Hannibal, his green-blue meeting amused auburn closely, their lips inches apart. Will opened his mouth to deny it, but as Hannibal's fingers slipped from his hair and trailed silken with soap down his back in a tender caress, he felt compelled to just be honest,

"Not very long…a little over a week…" he said with a hint of an apology in his tone, lowering his eyes briefly.

"I see." Hannibal said softly, his expression mostly unreadable.

Will swallowed lightly, feeling guiltier as he asked,

"Did I ruin the surprise…because I didn't mean to find it…" he sighed shortly, "…are you disappointed?"

Hannibal smiled then, in that handsome, devilish way of his,

"Certainly not, in fact…I feel rather enlightened as to why you were behaving so strangely in Costa del Sol." he explained. Will felt like an idiot at remembering the trip and he huffed out a laugh and bobbed his eyebrows,

"Yeah…sorry about that too. I was kind of…uh, freaking out…"

"Hm…" Hannibal really didn't sound bothered by it, didn't look it either, and Will felt relieved. Licking his lips then, Will leaned in for a kiss, but before their mouths even touched he drew back and frowned,

"How did _you know_ I knew about the ring?"

Hannibal continued to smile as he leaned forward and followed through on Will's aborted kiss, sealing their lips together sweetly for a few moist, warm seconds before the older man drew back and answered,

"The box."

Will blinked lazily, sort of just wanting to carry on kissing but also wanting to know,

"The ring box…?" Hannibal kissed his lips again in answer and Will half smiled in confusion, remembering that he'd wiped his fingerprints off of it, "How?"

Hannibal's hands were still trailing over his back and sides, making patterns with the soap,

"It smelled of caramel, peanuts, nougat and chocolate…" he answered, and when Will quickly and guilty glanced away, Hannibal grinned, "…I believe it's called a Snickers bar."

They fell quiet then and Hannibal, unperturbed, started to kiss his shoulder again, the older man's fingers continuing to trail and glide ticklishly over his skin. And while Will considered apologizing, he knew it really wasn't necessary because Hannibal wasn't upset. So instead of making it more of a serious issue that it was, he just owned what he'd done in the best way he could.

Will smirked then and brought his hand up to slide over the side of Hannibal's face and up into his smooth, damp hair as he slowly turned around in the older man's arms, their skin sliding together as he moved his body closer under the water. He hiked his eyebrow up cheekily when he spoke,

"Well, I guess in future I'll just have to hide my candy somewhere else…" he said unapologetically.

And Hannibal's only response was to grin even wider, all sharp teeth and mischief, and Will was perfectly content to press him back bodily as he leaned in to meet that smile with his own.

* * *

It took two weeks and three days for Hannibal to arrange all of the necessary documents for Morgan.

And within twenty four hours of having those papers, Hannibal, Will and Morgan left for Argentina.

* * *

Did I make up for all the angst and stress in the last chapter?


	6. Always

An: - So, while this chapter isn't dark or angsty, I feel the need to warn people to tread lightly anyway.  
\- This is not beta'd, sorry for any mistakes.  
\- Tėvelis, pronounced tee-vel-ee-is [Lithuanian word for dad/daddy]

* * *

And yet to wine, to opium even, I prefer the elixir of your lips on which love flaunts itself.

-Charles Baudelaire

* * *

16 Months Later

* * *

If one could call it a miracle, if one were to believe in a God that granted such an asinine and implausible concept of a thing, then Will might have considered the fact that nothing having yet surfaced with regards to the missing Verger's, was one such miracle.

* * *

 _Spain, Alicante, Benidorm - 2024_

They'd been back in their home in Alicante for just over two months.

* * *

Chiyoh had taken care of their house and their dogs in the long time that they'd been away, and when they'd returned from Argentina one late evening after a long flight, she'd been waiting for them with dinner that she'd pre-prepared so Hannibal wouldn't have to cook. After setting their luggage down and freshening up, they'd all sat down to eat and during their catch up conversation, Chiyoh had informed them that she'd be staying in Benidorm for a while, that she'd found a nice apartment on the beachfront and that she had no immediate plans to return to Italy.

Her decision had pleased Hannibal, and Will was –mostly- okay with it too because Chiyoh was family, and in a way he felt it would be nice to have her closer. She'd since moved only a ten minute drive away, with the agreement to visit sometimes, to have dinner with them some nights, to stay over on weekends and to occasionally babysit…

…because even Morgan, who'd spoken to Chiyoh several times on the phone while they'd been living in Argentina, liked the idea of getting to spend more time with his Aunt Heleen.

And since bringing him home to Spain, Morgan had grown attached to many other things as well, such as their high-hill house, their well-trained, playful dogs, the large open yard and the pool. And he loved his bedroom overlooking the sea, having selected which of the spare rooms he'd wanted as a bedroom after Will had shown him around the entire house to see the many extra rooms, telling him that he could pick whichever one he wanted as his own bedroom so that they could have it redecorated for him. Morgan had been ecstatic to choose, at the time he'd said it was _awesome_ in his quietly excited manner and he had thanked Will with a hug…and Hannibal as well. And Will never got tired of watching Hannibal indulge the boy's enthusiastic and never ending affectionate side by returning his hugs and smiles.

Yes, Morgan Gerard was a part of their family, and he was also a happy, healthy brand new boy in a brand new life.

Because exactly as he'd said he would, Hannibal had _redesigned_ Morgan, and not with violence or lies, fear or abuse, but rather with kindness and attention, talking, time and patience…and a small cocktail of drugs mixed with an hour a day set aside for specifically structured psychotherapy. And after only their first month in Argentina, Will had already begun noticing the differences in Morgan starting with the small things; he'd begun to talk more, expressed his feelings more fluently, asked questions when he was curious and he fidgeted less while spending more time and energy doing other things like watching TV, reading and playing outside.

When they'd been in Argentina for two months, Will had asked Hannibal if he could be present for a session, mostly out of curiosity, but after that hour spent watching Hannibal proceed with his structured session with Morgan, using various cognitive behavioral therapies, systemic therapy, expressive therapy, psychodynamic therapies and hypnotherapy, he'd opted out of ever being present again. Will had been relieved and glad though, that as time went on, Morgan's hour a day became an hour four days a week and then three and then one and gradually became less and less. And now, present day, he no longer required the drugs at all and Hannibal would sit with him once a month for an hour, unless he thought any additional time was necessary.

But it hadn't been so far, Morgan had taken to his new life so quickly Will sometimes worried when he realized that he no longer worried anymore, because Morgan fit so perfectly into their lives that he couldn't help thinking that something had to go wrong, which it hadn't yet. Instead Morgan grew more comfortable and content every day. He was smart, Hannibal had been right about that, and he loved being allowed to ask questions and make certain decisions for himself, like choosing his own clothing when they went shopping, selecting video and board games, books and toys that he liked, and he loved it when Hannibal would allow him to choose a recipe from the recipe box for family dinner –Will's idea- on Sundays.

Really, he was so well-behaved and had so effortlessly assimilated into their lives that it seemed surreal sometimes. The only thing about him that might have been a problem under different circumstances, was that Morgan was used to having wealthy parents. But while Will would feel stressed about the overly expensive toys and other items Morgan often wanted, with Hannibal, there was no problem with money being spent and he'd purchase almost _whatever_ it was without batting an eyelash.

But Will hadn't let that get out of hand. He and Hannibal had discussed a compromise early on, agreeing that spoiling Morgan rotten was no good and so they'd settled on moderation. And then Will had worried about tantrums when they went out shopping, but the most he'd been met with from Morgan when he told the boy 'no' or explained that the item he wanted was excessive, was frustration and mild sulking. Because while Hannibal was lenient and indulgent and attentive, the man exuded an authority that demanded manners, respect and good behavior, and it was an authority that Morgan seemed to adhere to almost naturally, even when Hannibal wasn't around.

It had raised concerns for Will, that Morgan's easy acquiescence might potentially have been about fearing Hannibal, but over time he'd come to learn that Morgan was in fact not afraid of Hannibal, not any more than any child was afraid of upsetting their parent. As it was, when Hannibal reprimanded him, Morgan didn't cower or become subdued, rather, he'd give Hannibal his most defiant face, _but_ he'd do so while holding his –increasingly opinionated- tongue, still aware that he needed to mind his manners, and he'd accept whatever decision would be made at the time. Will had actually become fond of the way Morgan would puff up his face up when he was upset.

Another trait Will appreciated about the boy was that he was not the sort to hold a grudge, in fact, the quicker the air was cleared after any kind of tension in the house, the happier he would be. Will had been stunned the first time he'd seen Morgan seek out Hannibal to apologize. It had happened about ten minutes after he'd been sent to his room for having purposely dropped the television remote control on the floor when Hannibal had told him it was time to switch the TV off and prepare for dinner. It had been a rare thing for Hannibal to deal with those tasks, since Will was generally the one who micromanaged the boy's recreational and general daily activities, but that day Will hadn't been feeling well –he'd taken a while to acclimate to Argentina-, and so Hannibal had stepped in.

And it'd been so endearing when Morgan had wandered over to Hannibal shortly after the incident and had said sorry in his accented and still developing English, looking up at Hannibal with his big blue eyes. And it'd been even more bizarrely endearing when Hannibal had left whatever he'd been doing at the bookshelf in the living room –where Will had been lying on the couch- to crouch down and accept the apology, to also accept Morgan's impulsive need to hug it out. And then with an approving smile, Hannibal had taken his hand and led him upstairs, where Hannibal had supervised as Morgan cleaned up for dinner.

Will had been lying silently on the sofa the entire time just watching, amazed…and falling more in love with Hannibal by the day…by the second.

In the end, Morgan having been as sheltered as he had, had made him an uncomplicated child to deal with because he had no hang ups, experienced no nightmares, had no ingrained obstinacies or blooming pathologies and knew no bad words or manners that he ever bothered to repeat or act out. It was just as Hannibal had said, Morgan had been like a blank canvas, a child who'd only ever really been attached to his mothers and had been used to his carefully managed life.

And of course, he'd eventually asked about Alana and Margot, back when they'd still been in _Livorno_ actually. Morgan had asked Hannibal because of the language barrier he had with everyone else, and while Will had only understood bits and pieces of what Hannibal had told Morgan at the time, since then, the story of his parents being lost in a tragic accident had been incorporated much more integrally and yet subtly into the boy's newly conditioned understanding of his new life.

Hannibal had finely-tuned and skillfully crafted the details of a new and amended old life into Morgan so perfectly that Will was still amazed when he thought about it. He also couldn't always help that he felt a little guilty about it, but ultimately, what they were doing for the boy –who would likely have ended up in the foster system as a nameless lost child wherever they might have dumped him – was far better and safer, and most importantly, Morgan was happy and healthy, his two mothers almost seamlessly replaced by two fathers.

And another very specific result of Morgan's therapy with Hannibal had made it so that he didn't even mention his former parent's names, in fact, Will found himself wondering if Hannibal had somehow made Morgan forget their names altogether. There'd been one time, about nine months into their time in Argentina, when Will had been testing the boy's state of mind, specifically his understanding of how he'd come to be there with them. He'd been doing as Hannibal had asked him to, and it was on a warm afternoon after they'd had lunch that Will had asked Morgan if he knew how he'd come to be with himself and 'Hannes', if he understood why they were his family now.

And Morgan's answer had been spoken effortlessly, rolling off his tongue with no confusion and just the right amount of 'too young to really be affected' sadness, Morgan had said; _My parents died in a car crash, and then papá and tėvelis adopted me._

It had been a simple explanation, one that people would likely never ask a six year old orphan to elaborate on and also one that Morgan sounded like he truly believed, even as he'd parsed it out slowly in his broken English and with the word 'tėvelis', being the Lithuanian word for 'dad' and referring to Hannibal, being thrown in there. And that was yet another thing that had surprised Will, was that Hannibal had given the boy such a personal word to use to refer to him as. A word that Will hoped people would believe was the Estonian term for dad if anyone ever asked and he had to lie about it.

As for the language barrier, it was a good thing that Italian and Spanish were lexically similar because it'd made it easier for Morgan to learn Spanish, which Hannibal was teaching him while Will taught him English alternatively. He'd been homeschooled in Argentina by the two of them, Will doing most of the basic subjects by himself while Hannibal would occasionally help or fill in to give Will a day off.

But even with how well everything had worked out, being in Argentina had been a period of time for them that had been both easy and difficult in various ways. Morgan may not have been a complicated child, but that was not to say that the whole experience hadn't been emotionally taxing as well as enlightening parentally and personally for himself and Hannibal, the two of them embarking together into parenthood and the massive commitment necessary for it had been a stressful thing to navigate.

Parentally, Will had learned a lot. In the past he'd had only a certain amount of involvement in Walter's life when he'd been married to Molly, but she had always been the primary parent. With Morgan, Will was the primary parent, which was how Hannibal seemed to think it should be. Because ultimately back in Spain, Will would be the one spending the most time with Morgan while Hannibal worked –having decided he was going to set up a practice with Juan and Adoncia- and so Morgan needed to develop his strongest familial attachment to Will.

And presently it was pretty much like that, although there was no doubt that Morgan was attached to Hannibal as well, which was understandable, since for their first few months in Argentina Will could barely hold a conversation with the boy and Hannibal had been the 'go to' adult.

Personally, they'd had a lot more to deal with, and he and Hannibal and disagreed and had discreet arguments over a lot of things concerning raising Morgan, but they'd more or less worked it all out. However, there were some things that Will could not avoid thinking about no matter how hard he tried. For instance, mostly late at night, when he'd be lying in bed beside Hannibal, sleeping against or with the older man holding him, maybe sore and satisfied from sex, maybe just tired and lying comfortably close after a long day, Will was often unable to sleep, too often plagued by the knowledge that Hannibal was ten years older than him…

…and that that was part of the reason for Hannibal insisting Morgan be mostly attached to him, because he'd most likely be the parent left behind when Hannibal inevitably…

Then there was also the fact that Morgan would grow up, and even with Hannibal there –worse if he wasn't-, if or when Morgan one day wanted to know and learn about his dead parents, if Morgan one day discovered who Hannibal and Will really were…what then?

And that had also raised the question of whether or not Morgan should be raised to be like them as soon as possible, whether or not they should reveal themselves when the boy became old enough to understand properly and then they could begin grooming him for the hunt…

…Will and Hannibal had argued most about that, and still had yet to come to a mutual decision.

Yes, it had been a difficult time, just a little over a year…

…but while things could go bad in the future- shit, things could go bad in the next hour, day or week-, for right then, Will felt like it was perfect, like he had everything he'd never thought he could.

Now they were home in Spain again, engaged and with a child they called son.

* * *

Morgan was a loving, bright eyed, intelligent boy with an excess of affection and energy who spoke one language fluently and two others passably. He was fond of dogs, loved reading adventure fiction and enjoyed playing video games, but he also liked playing chess, though mostly just because he _really_ loved his Star Wars special edition chess set. And while Hannibal found it entertaining that Morgan always wanted to play as the dark side of 'The Force', Will found it endlessly amusing that Hannibal was always dissatisfied when he won for the good guys.

Morgan also loved swimming and running and jumping and just generally exerting himself, he loved playing outside in the warm sun, rolling around in the grass and playing with the dogs, going down to the beach with Will and spending the entire day there swimming or playing in the sand by himself or with other kids. His social skills had improved vastly and Will always encouraged him.

Back in Argentina, when they'd been there for a while, Will had used to take Morgan to the nearest park to play, and so Morgan had quickly learned to interact with the other kids who played there on the jungle gyms or with their pets, supervised by their parents who Will would stand among dutifully, and while Morgan had been shy at first, he'd come around pretty quickly. And Will had loved watching Morgan get along with other children and be completely normal, doing and enjoying all of the little things that Will himself had not had the personal normalcy to experience when he'd been a boy.

He was relieved though, when they'd left Argentina and he'd no longer have to visit that park ever again, because he'd been hit on way too often by every single mother there who either didn't notice or didn't care that he wore a ring on his finger, and it had been exhausting to turn them down or to brush off their constant flirting. And while Hannibal refused to visit the park with him because he found it amusing when Will would later complain about the incorrigible passes the various women made at him, after his griping, Hannibal would kiss him until he was dizzy and breathless and smiling and Will would know that it was Hannibal's way of smugly and wordlessly saying ' _you're mine and don't you dare forget it_ '. As if Will ever could.

As far as typical behaviors were concerned, for a five year old Morgan exhibited most of the expectable ones; he sometimes wanted to eat sweets and desserts before having supper, he asked for a light to be left on for when he went to sleep, he occasionally tried to get away with not brushing his teeth before bed and he cried like any other kid would when he got hurt playing outside. On that last point though, his tears would dry up very quickly because he was always fascinated by watching and listening as Hannibal saw to him, the older man always talking throughout the small procedure of disinfecting a scrape or putting a plaster on a cut, giving Morgan a full medical run down of whatever he was doing inclusive of other relevant or irrelevant information. And most of the time Morgan couldn't even understand everything Hannibal was saying but he always listened raptly, nodding and trying to repeat words like _staphylococcus_.

But while Morgan was fascinated with Hannibal's doctor and chef skills and the fact that he could ask Hannibal just about any question and get a knowledgeable explanation or answer, in most other ways, he was more alike and closer to Will. For instance, he preferred to wear jeans and T-shirts and sneakers, and he also didn't mind that Will had chosen to grow his chestnut brown hair out so that it was a bed head like mess over his forehead and just reached his ears, his hair also almost never saw a comb, much like Will's. He also shared Will's love for being outdoors in nature, for the ocean and he was eager to one day learn to fish and to go on a real boat. Of course, he loved dogs and always wanted Remy and Heller to sleep on his bed with him, and even though it irked Hannibal, he never insisted that it stop.

Morgan loved to eat Hannibal's gourmet chocolate cakes and fancily decorated breakfast meals, but he often preferred simpler stuff, such as toast or waffles with golden syrup, sugary cereals, a big bowl of chocolate ice cream and Snickers bars. He had a fair appetite for his proper meals though…and he was in no way a vegetarian, something which Hannibal was very pleased about. And while they hadn't killed anyone in their time in Argentina or even since they'd been back in Spain, Will knew that the older man was looking forward to feeding Morgan his first cut of human meat…someday.

Will had been really relieved and grateful that Hannibal had chosen to _ask_ him _first_ about that, about whether he would be fine with Morgan being a cannibal or whether he'd prefer the boy to eat regular meats only. And Will had taken a few days to think about it because it was a huge decision concerning something that was a big part of their lives. When Will had been ready to, he and Hannibal had sat down and discussed it at length, and Will's primary concern had been whether or not there'd be any risk to Morgan's health.

Hannibal had then explained to him, in great detail that had left Will reeling, exactly what risks did exist and how very few could, but were unlikely to occur when it came to cannibalism. He talked about what parts of the human body he always avoided consuming just for the sake of being extra careful, and in doing so revealed that there was more than just civility in the reasons for why he didn't just go around eating raw human meat…for the most part. He talked about the age groups he tended to try to stick to and about how slight the chances were of getting sick from eating human meat.

Overall, Will had learned two things that day;

One, that it had apparently been a special and rare thing for Hannibal to have wanted to eat his brain back in Florence, due to the higher health risks involved in eating human brains. And two, that eating _contaminated_ human meat and eating _contaminated_ animal meat was just about the same thing, either one could make you sick, so long as whatever part you were eating of them was actually sick, otherwise, it was all relatively low risk.

Ultimately though, Will had asked to table the idea, deciding that they'd discuss it again when Morgan was a little older. Hannibal had thankfully been –and remained- very compromising in all things and had agreed without a problem. And Will had lost count of how many times he'd told Hannibal that he loved him from the time they'd left Livorno throughout the time they'd been living in Argentina.

Sometimes he couldn't even help saying it, he just felt like he needed to and so he would.

* * *

 _Spain, Alicante, Benidorm - Monday – 8 January 2024 – 8.41 AM_

"Papá?" Morgan's voice brought Will out of his thoughts of picking up groceries and getting his car washed, and he shifted his hands on the leather steering wheel of his Jag as he drove, glancing at _his son_ sitting in the passenger seat beside him, the seat belt strapped across Morgan's little body and his school bag settled on his lap as he looked at Will with bright blue eyes.

"Yeah?" Will asked as he looked back to the road, navigating the early morning traffic that was particularly busy the nearer they drove to the school district.

"Can we…go to the beach after school?" Morgan asked in careful English.

To Will, he tended to speak in English mostly and to Hannibal in Italian, but they encouraged him to speak in Spanish and English more than Italian because the school he would be attending was a Spanish/English school.

It was actually going to be Morgan's first day of school presently, even though it was already the second term, and Will had felt slightly tense the entire morning, worrying about how Morgan would do for an entire day away from home and in the company of strangers for the first time since they'd 'adopted' him.

"Maybe, don't you think you should see how you feel later on?" he raised his eyebrows, absently checking his mirrors, "Usted puede estar cansado después de la escuela."( _You may be tired after school._ ) Will mixed it up, going from English to Spanish in hopes of encouraging the boy to use his third language more. He glanced from the road to Morgan and back again, pushing his sunglasses up on his nose.

Morgan fidgeted and chewed his lip, scuffing his shoes against one another, obviously nervous about his first day back at school. And Will was nervous too, because the last time the boy had been in school was when he'd still been with Alana and Margot, but Hannibal hadn't been concerned at all, in fact he'd reassured Will not to worry and that everything would be fine, and so he was doing his best not to stress about it.

"Okay." Morgan mumbled after a while and shifted his feet, putting shoe heel to shoe toe and pressing his head back against the seat as he turned and looked out of the window. Will slowed the car down, indicating before he turned a corner and drove along the next road until he came to a stop street.

He looked at Morgan properly then, smiling encouragingly,

"Hey, don't be scared, you'll be fine. Do you remember what tėvelis said?" he asked evenly.

Morgan looked at him again and nodded,

"Se comincio a sentire a disagio, devo dire al mio insegnante di chiamare i miei genitori."( _If I start to feel uncomfortable, I must tell my teacher to call my parents._ ) he recited.

Will smirked and tilted his head,

"In Spanish?"

Morgan sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes,

"Papá…" he said as if Will was being unreasonably demanding and when Will just glanced at him expectantly he did as told, "Si comienzo a sentirse incómodo, debo decir a mi maestro…uh, para llamar a mis padres."( _If I start to feel uncomfortable, I must tell my teacher...uh, to call my parents._ ) he fidgeted with his school bag.

Will smiled and nodded as he pulled away from the stop street and turned into the school street,

"Right, and I promise, if you have a good day and you still feel like it later, we'll go to the beach, alright?" Will confirmed, easing in behind a row of cars lining up to drop their kids off at the gates to the private school.

Morgan nodded, smiling at the promise before he began fidgeting with his red tie. His school uniform was simple, a black blazer over a white shirt and dark red tie, worn with black school shorts, black knee-high socks and standard leather school shoes. And because Hannibal was a stickler for neatness, the boy's uniform was perfectly tidy and ironed, every button fastened and the tie properly done…not that it would be by the end of the day.

Will smiled at the thought, and just then, after a minute of waiting, he drove forward and pulled up at the gates in the quick stop zone. Will then proceeded to do as all the other parents did, getting out of the car and meeting Morgan on the passenger side which opened onto the curb. Morgan had just gotten out of the car when Will came around and he pushed the door shut while the boy swung his small backpack onto his right shoulder.

It was busy there, parents and children and teachers and cars everywhere but Will focused on Morgan, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair before crouching down to look at the boy, and finding himself feeling ridiculously proud and a little emotional,

"Uh…right, be good, and uh, eat the lunch tėvelis made for you," because school prepared food was the same as eating out of a petri-dish as far as Hannibal was concerned, "practice your English and your Spanish and…" Will stared into Morgan's wide eyed face and took a deep breath, sighing away his excessive concern, "…and yeah, I hope you have a good day, Morgan." he swallowed lightly, placing his hands on Morgan's small shoulders and squeezing gently when the boy finally stopped nodding.

Morgan hugged him then, little arms around his neck, always tight and always genuine and afterwards Will stood up and he took Morgan's hand, leading him to the gates where two teachers waited to guide the kids inside. The younger of the two women smiled at him and Morgan and greeting them in Spanish, and Morgan replied in Spanish. Will let go of his hand then and gestured for him to go ahead inside with all of the other children as the two teachers directed.

Morgan nodded and started walking, glancing back at Will soon after, looking nervous but smiling as he waved and said,

"Bye papà."

Will smiled and waved once in return,

"Bye, kiddo, I'll pick you up later." he reassured and Morgan nodded again before he turned around and headed into the schoolyard without looking back.

Will would like to have lingered because he was paranoid, but he knew the school was good and safe because Hannibal had been the one to pick it out, he'd been the one to handle Morgan's enrollment and to make sure the teachers knew to contact him or Will immediately if anything was wrong with their son.

Also, there was a queue of cars that Will was contributing to the hold up of.

So after a sigh, he turned around and headed back to his car, slipping into the driver's seat and starting the engine before he pulled off the curb carefully into the slow flowing traffic, intending to head back home.

* * *

Life in Argentina had been a major adjustment, and then life back in Alicante had also had to change somewhat.

Will had had to rearrange his teaching hours to suit having to drop off and pick up Morgan from school. And Hannibal, having gone into business with Juan and Adoncia in their already established practice, had had to schedule and organize an influx of new and old patients and work out his hours for every day as well.

Will hadn't seen his new office yet, but Hannibal had told him that it was simple and very contemporary –which meant he didn't like it at all. And Hannibal was pretty busy with the new practice, because aside from his many new patients, several of his former clients who he'd given referrals to when they'd decided to move to Argentina under the guise of family priorities, had returned to see him, so his appointments were fully booked up five days a week.

But he was strict about not seeing patients on weekends because while yeah, he was really busy, Will knew that he could honestly have been busier. But Hannibal didn't allow his time to be overspent at work purely because Will wanted him at home as much as he could be, especially since now that they were doing the family thing Will wanted them to do it together. That was the unspoken agreement between them, and Hannibal seemed happy to oblige, keeping all of his appointments between 8 AM and 4 PM, five days a week with only patient emergencies as an exception.

And while they'd been adjusting to their new work situations in the first few weeks back, they'd also had Morgan's chosen bedroom redecorated to completion within the first month. They'd talked about and set a date for when they'd take that previously postponed trip up North that they'd wanted to make in order to get some fresh meat, having decided that Chiyoh could babysit for them. Honestly, most everything they usually did had had to be adjusted because they now had a child in the mix, but every day, more and more, everything was falling into place.

For instance, with everything else settled Will was finally ready to start seriously making wedding plans. Before they'd even been back in Spain, he –and Hannibal- had let Isa and Juan know that they were engaged and that they'd adopted a son, because Hannibal had said it was best to just get it out of the way before they had to see their 'friends' again, allowing the idea to settle so that the curiosity could have faded by the time they returned.

And so presently, they had dinner plans for the upcoming weekend with Isa and Juan, where the Cantillo's would meet Morgan, and also, Will expected that Isa would want to talk about the wedding plans.

Will guessed that he was going to have to be very firm with her about it being a private affair if she wanted to be involved in the planning, because women were pushy about weddings, he knew that from past experience with Molly. Still, even with all of the odd new things he had to contend with in his odd new life, he was looking forward to permanently committing himself to the person he loved like he hadn't ever any other person in his life…

…yes, Will was looking forward to living the bizarrely _normal_ and yet _so_ twisted life he was building with Hannibal Lecter.

* * *

 _Benidorm - Monday – 8 January 2024 – 9.11 AM_

The drive back home went quickly, and soon Will was all the way up the long winding road that led to their house and he was turning up into their driveway before the gate had even fully rolled open for him.

He frowned as he parked off in the driveway, seeing Hannibal's Bentley parked in the open garage, which was odd, because he had left for work before Will had even left to drop Morgan off.

Wondering if anything was wrong, Will got out of his car and as the gate rolled shut he quickly made his way across the driveway and up the stairs to the yard level. He crossed the yard, Remy and Heller running from different parts of the property to greet him and he gave them quick verbal acknowledgments –because he'd only been gone for a half hour- before he headed inside.

Will walked through the open front door and left it open for the dogs, the cool air-conditioned temperature in the house bringing light goosebumps to his skin even though the sun was out and high in the sky. He took his sunglasses off as he walked through the hallway, looking into the main living room as he passed it on his way to the kitchen.

"Hannibal?" he said loudly enough that the man would hear him if he were anywhere downstairs. And Will realized, with a belated smile, that instead of having to call him Hannes as usual, now that they were alone, it felt and sounded so good to say Hannibal's name aloud, whereas usually he had to whisper it to him in a stolen moment, or moan it softly just between them when they had sex.

And oh yes, **that** was one thing that was definitely affected by having a kid…sex.

Will placed his sunglasses and car keys down on the island counter after he crossed the kitchen, and then he stepped over to the fridge and retrieved a bottle of water, and as he broke the seal and took a sip from it, he thought about just how good he'd gotten and being unvocal during sex.

It'd been a hell of a personal adjustment for him, considering how he'd always been free to make as much noise as he wanted to in the past, especially knowing how much Hannibal liked it when they fucked so hard and Will got so loud that his voice resonated through their open plan house, a harmonic blend of moaning and the staccato slapping of their bare sweaty skin...

…but they couldn't do that anymore, not with Morgan two doors down the hall from their bedroom.

So while the amount of sex they had hadn't been affected, or even really the quality of it, it was the freedom of vocal and other noise expressions during sex that had been drastically censored. They never worried about Morgan walking in on them because Hannibal had instilled in Morgan the strict rule of knocking and waiting for announced admittance before entering any room with a closed door, and the boy followed rules astoundingly well. So really, their only problem was that they had to be quiet and also had to keep sex strictly in the bedroom.

They had kissed and touched one another in generally acceptable ways around Morgan, things like minor lip locking, chaste neck kisses and waist holding or close hugging, keeping everything they did on a daily basis parentally and age appropriate. And sometimes when Morgan was asleep, they would take a chance and make out in the living room, but for the most part, everything sexual happened behind the closed door of their bedroom.

It was a bit of a bummer, but Will thought it wasn't all that much to sacrifice in order to have everything they presently did, a life and a real family. And if they continued to be so careful and to have such excellent fucking luck, Will was sure they could keep it, he could keep it.

"Hannibal?!" he tried again, placing his water bottle down on the island counter as he distractedly walked around the counter and over to the dining table, slipping his cellphone out of his pocket to check the time. It was almost 9.15.

Will set his phone down on the table and turned around to face the hallway,

"Hanni-…oh, there you are," he cut himself off when the older man walked into the kitchen, "why are you back home, everything okay?" he asked automatically, but his eyes wandered as he looked Hannibal over.

The older man's hair was casually styled, some of it hanging over his forehead, and he was dressed as he had been when he left for work that morning, decked out in a rich rust colored button down dress shirt, open at the collar, worn with a sheer textured midnight blue suit pants and black medallion toe leather shoes. His sleeve cuffs were undone and folded up almost to his elbow, showing off the sinewy lines of his forearms, his expensive but understated watch adorning his left wrist…and on his left hand, complimenting his long, slender fingers, was the thin diamond embellished platinum engagement ring that they'd purchased together for him in Argentina.

Will remembered buying it as though it were yesterday.

Hannibal had informed him that his own ring was part of a set, and that he intended to present Will with the second ring, the wedding band, at the ceremony, as was considered tradition. But because they were both men, Will had felt it would be a little unfair if he had to wear an engagement and wedding ring by himself, like the girl counterpart usually did. So he'd told Hannibal his feelings on it and decided that either both of them wore two rings, or they both wore one. And as promised, Hannibal agreed to anything Will wanted and together they'd gone ring shopping in Argentina, eventually finding something Hannibal thought was suitable for himself, the second ring of his set being a thick plain band just as Will's second ring was.

"Yes," he nodded once and offered no further explanation, "I've been waiting for you to get back, how is Morgan?" Hannibal asked as he approached Will, his gait slow and relaxed, confident and smooth.

Will raised his eyebrows,

"Oh, yeah, he's fine," he tilted his head back slightly when Hannibal stepped into his immediate space, "a bit nervous but…" he trailed off then when the older man slid his arms around his waist, and he slid his own arms up and around Hannibal's shoulders in return, letting his eyes fall closed just a second before he parted his lips to the kiss Hannibal leaned in for.

The kiss was not slow or soft, it was all deep tongue and wet heat, Hannibal pulling Will tightly close, his large hands splaying on Will's lower back and one moving down to grope his ass firmly. And Will moaned…softly…and then remembered he didn't have to be quiet because they were _alone_...

…and he smirked at the realization that came with that thought, drawing back and speaking even as Hannibal kissed and nibbled at his mouth,

"Did…you come…home, just for…this?" he asked knowingly.

Hannibal didn't answer with words, instead he unlooped his arms from around Will and abruptly and unexpectedly started unfastening Will's jeans, still kissing at Will's mouth, barely taking or giving Will a moment to breathe properly.

Will uncircled his arms from Hannibal's neck as his zipper was tugged down with a quick jerk, his hips tugged forward, Hannibal sucking sorely at his bottom lip before kissing him with more aggression and desire than before.

Will knew they were going to fuck at that point, and he was already getting hard and feeling hot with anticipation as he slid his hands to Hannibal's shirt collar and started to undo the buttons.

He attempted to speak between Hannibal's unrelenting and rough kisses,

"Shouldn't…we…go up-stai-…" he was cut off though, his thoughts and speech derailed as he moaned into the older man's mouth when Hannibal covered his own in a deep, intentionally silencing kiss, and a second later he was easily lifted to sit onto the wood and glass kitchen table behind them.

Will gave into the kisses fully then, thinking ' _fuck it_ ' as he deftly undid the rest of Hannibal's shirt buttons and then slid his hands, flat and firm over the older man's lightly hairy chest and then down over his tensing abdomen to the buckle of his leather belt. Will had it unfastened in seconds and then Hannibal was pulling his T-shirt up and he lifted his arms, their mouths parting briefly so the shirt could come up over his head.

They went straight back to it though, Hannibal licking into his mouth almost forcefully in a rare show of his dominance, seemingly unwilling to take his mouth off of Will's for too long. Hannibal worked his mouth with rough angles and tongue and suckles assiduously against Will's even as he pulled Will's leather boots off, tugging at Will's jeans a moment after the shoes thudded to the floor. And despite thinking of how it wasn't hygienic or dignified to fuck on the kitchen table, Will simply couldn't be bothered to give a shit right then and he lifted his hips so that Hannibal could easily pull the gray denim off of his legs.

It was dropped on the floor and then Hannibal grabbed his underwear next and without hesitation Will allowed those off too, and then there was just cool glass against his bare skin. Hannibal grabbed his thighs roughly next, stepping between his naked legs, and the older man hitched and wrapped Will's legs around his waist before Will even had the chance to do it himself…

…Christ, Hannibal was turning him on like crazy with the roughness and urgency…

* * *

 **The rest of the chapter has been removed due to FF's policy for no explicit content, please read it fully on AO3.**

 **Basically, it's a happy ending...if you know what I mean ;)**

* * *

 _That's a wrap, and this is probably the least angst filled and dark story I've ever written. It's so light and happy that I'm not sure how I feel about it. I might consider writing the wedding, maybe some future drama of the police kind? Would Hannibal get bored living the family life? Let me know what you think._  
 _Thanks for reading!_


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